For the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter After struggling to generate offense in their last four games, the Toronto Maple Leafs took advantage of the inadequacies of the Florida Panthers, with John Tavares scoring four goals in a 7-5 win at Scotiabank Arena on Monday. The Leafs chased Panthers goalie Samuel Montembeault after the rookie allowed goals to Patrick Marleau and Jake Muzzin just over four minutes into the game. Veteran Roberto Luongo replaced Montembeault and Tavares increased the Toronto lead with a power-play goal that was inadvertently put in by Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad. He tallied again on a nice feed by Zach Hyman late in the first, notched the hat trick on a rebound of a Morgan Rielly shot in the middle frame and buried his fourth early in the third. “We've been able to watch and see the kind of human being (John) is. How focused he is about doing his business and, whether he plays good or bad, he just plays, he comes and does his thing professionally.… Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “He takes the same professional approach the next day so he's a real good leader for us and obviously, he makes us a deeper team. We gave (Auston Matthews) the assignment on (Aleksander) Barkov tonight, normally we'd give it to John, so that freed up John and he had a good night offensively.… Zach Hyman scored his 20th goal of the season to give Toronto a four-goal lead, but once again the Leafs were unable to slam the door shut on Florida, allowing the Panthers to narrow the lead to two late in the third on goals by Jonathan Huberdeau and Jayce Hawryluk. “I think we’re starting to play better. When you have a big first period like that, it helps.… defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “I think there’s always areas that you can clean up, but it’s important that we keep the momentum going and it’s nice to win a couple.… With his four-goal night, Tavares set a Leafs record for most goals in his first season, surpassing Eddie Olczyk’s 42 goals in 1987-88 after being acquired from Chicago along with Al Secord for Rick Vaive, Steve Thomas and Bob McGill. He also passed Leon Draisaitl and moved to within three of Alexander Ovechkin in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy and now has a realistic chance of reaching the 50-goal mark with six games left in the regular season. Rielly also reached the 50-assist mark with a pair of helpers and Mitch Marner added three assists, reaching the 90-point mark for the first time in his career. The Leafs moved to within five points of Boston (who lost 5-4 to Tampa on Monday). It is still unknown whether Babcock will give some of his core group and his starting goalie some rest in advance of the playoffs, but if the Bruins maintain that sizable lead through the week, it would be wise to give backup Garret Sparks a couple extra starts, veterans like Ron Hainsey and key players like Rielly a night off. *******
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— The Leafs Convo (@TheLeafsConvo) March 26, 2019
The Convo at One Year.
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