TORONTO (AP) 鈥� Mitch Marner scored the goal-ahead goal midway through the third period, Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 in an Atlantic Division showdown Wednesday night.
John Tavares and Matthew Knies also scored to help division-leading Toronto wrap up a playoff spot and and move three points ahead of Tampa Bay and four in front of Florida. Marner and Knies also had assists.
Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for defending Stanley Cip champion Florida. Gustav Forsling also scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots.
Takeaways
Panthers: Florida was without captain Aleksander Barkov (upper-body injury) after he was hurt Tuesday night in a 3-2 overtime loss in Montreal. The club also continues to play without star forward Matthew Tkachuk (lower-body injury) and defenseman Aaron Ekblad, (20-game suspension).
Maple Leafs: Tavares has 15 goals in 20 games since the 4 Nations Face-Off to lead the NHL. The 34-year-old pending unrestricted free agent has 36 goals in in 68 games this season.
Key moment
Marner made it 2-1 with 9:10 left after Bobrovsky, who stopped Bobby McMann on a breakaway moments earlier, couldn鈥檛 squeeze the initial shot off the stick of Auston Matthews.
Key stat
Matthews needs one goal to become the fifth player in franchise history with at least 30 in their first season as captain. He would join Rick Vaive (54), Darryl Sittler (41), Mats Sundin (33) and Dave Keon (32).
Up next
Both teams play Saturday night. The Panthers are at Ottawa. The Maple Leafs host Columbus.
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The Associated Press
