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The Toronto Maple Leafs head into the final stretch of the regular season in a three-way battle with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Boston Bruins for playoff position in the Atlantic and hold their fate in their hands. The Leafs begin a stretch of three games in four nights against divisional foes, starting with a Saturday night tilt against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
The Leafs have fallen into the first Eastern Conference wildcard spot after the Bruins 6-3 win over the New York Islanders and the Lightning’s 2-1 overtime victory in Detroit on Saturday but would move back into second place in the Atlantic with a win over the Habs.
The 5-2 loss to the rebuilding Canadiens last month was a low point of the season and Toronto has to show the ability to beat a team they are better than, which they have been unable to do all year.
The Leafs have lost three of four games to the clubs with the two worst records in the league(Montreal and Arizona) and must win the first of back-to-back games against the Habs with a match against first-place Florida at home on Sunday.
Erik Kallgren will make his fourth start for Toronto with Petr Mrazek slated to play against the Panthers on Sunday. Head coach Sheldon Keefe will make no lineup changes, with Ondrej Kase and Rasmus Sandin out, and Jack Campbell and Jake Muzzin recuperating.
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The Leafs inked forward Nick Abruzzese to a two-year, entry-level deal with an average annual value of the contract is $850,000 on Saturday. The 22-year-old center was captain of the Harvard Crimson this season and had 33 points (9G, 24A) in 28 games and had four points (1G, 3A) in four games for Team USA at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
"As an organization, we're very thankful to Harvard head coach Ted Donato and his staff for their job developing Nick," Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas said in a press release.
It is uncertain at this point what role Abruzzese will play, but it is quite possible that he will get an NHL look before the end of the regular season, and possibly in the playoffs if he plays well.
Congrats and a huge thank you to Nick Abruzzese for his leadership this season!
— Harvard Men's Hockey (@HarvardMHockey) March 26, 2022
RELEASE: Abruzzese Signs NHL Contract With Toronto Maple Leafs https://t.co/kA0srN1AF1 #GoCrimson pic.twitter.com/n4xkqfMRZp
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Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
Convo on Podcast.#theleafsconvo https://t.co/Xdn3CDLVCI