Leafs down Panthers, clinch spot in postseason

Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies each tallied a goal and an assist to help Toronto beat the visiting Florida Panthers 3-2 on Wednesday, allowing the Maple Leafs to clinch a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs and stretch their lead atop the Atlantic Division.

John Tavares also found the net for the first-place Maple Leafs (46-25-4, 96 points), who earned their seventh win over the past nine games (7-1-1). Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves against his former team.

Sam Reinhart collected a goal and an assist and Gustav Forsling scored for the third-place Panthers (44-27-4, 92 points), who are one point behind the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning. Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 23 shots.

With 9:10 left in the contest, Auston Matthews spotted an open Marner, who got down on one knee and fired home a goal to give Toronto a 2-1 lead.

Knies notched the game-winning tally with 4:51 remaining when he took a beautiful saucer pass from Marner before burying a backhanded shot on a breakaway.

Reinhart got the Panthers back within one with 2:25 left with a power-play goal, but the visitors couldn't find an equalizer.

Bobrovsky was on top of his game early in the Panthers' crease.

The two-time Vezina-Trophy winning goaltender shut down two scoring chances from Matthews, including a net-front save on the sniper's backhanded attempt just under seven minutes into the matchup.

Forsling broke the deadlock just over a minute into the middle frame. After taking a pass from Reinhart, the Panthers defenseman blasted a slap shot into the back of the net.

The Maple Leafs finally solved Bobrovsky with 8:29 remaining in the second as Tavares tipped in Nylander's perfectly placed slap pass. Tavares notched his 36th goal of the season and his 14th over the past 16 outings.

Toronto's top line came close to giving the Maple Leafs a lead three minutes into the final frame, but Knies' close-in tip found the post.

The Maple Leafs' Bobby McMann found himself loose on a breakaway with 9:36 left in regulation, but Bobrovsky shut him down.

Marner snuck the tiebreaking goal past Bobrovsky moments later.

Marner extended his point streak to six games (three goals, seven assists) with the marker.

Stolarz helped keep the Maple Leafs on top as he slid across to stone an open Niko Mikkola with 7:31 left.

The Panthers were without captain Aleksander Barkov, who was ruled out earlier in the day due to an upper-body injury, and Nico Sturm, who has an undisclosed injury.

--Field Level Media