TORONTO (AP) — 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 Cup champion Florida. Gustav Forsling also scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots.
In the past three games, the Panthers are 0-2-1 against the Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, and play at the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night.
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).
Key moment
Marner made it 2-1 with 9:10 left after Bobrovsky, who stopped Bobby McMann on a breakaway moments earlier, couldn’t squeeze the initial shot off the stick of Auston Matthews.
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