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The Toronto Maple Leafs moved one step closer to clinching a postseason berth, as Mitch Marner scored a goal and assist in a 4-3 victory over the Florida Panthers at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday.
The Leafs needed a win over the Panthers and a regulation loss from the Philadelphia Flyers to clinch their second straight trip to the playoffs, but the Flyers won 2-1 over the Avalanche in Denver.
Marner, Auston Matthews, Patrick Marleau and James van Riemsdyk scored for Toronto, who took a 3-0 first period lead and sat back for most of the remaining 40 minutes, with Frederik Andersen holding off a late Florida charge.
It was milestone night for Toronto, as the club set a franchise record for wins (46) and home wins (27), Matthews reached the 30-goal plateau and van Riemsdyk’s game-winner was the 200th of his NHL career.
Matthews becomes only the third player in franchise history to score 30 or more goals in his first two professional seasons (Wendel Clark and Daniel Marois are the others), and that feat is made more impressive by the sophomore doing it in just 57 games.
Andersen reached a career-best 36 wins with his 30-save effort against the Panthers, including a incredible diving glove stop on Jonathan Huberdeau, and was strong in the third period, making 13 saves to preserve a tenuous lead.
Marner continued his impressive second half with his 21st of the season off his own rebound to open the scoring and a great play to set up linemate Marleau for his 25th of the season, but also made a great defensive play in the third period, backchecking to break up a Florida scoring chance.
“I thought Marner was a star tonight, really set the tone and came out and skated good.… Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “He worked, that's why he had the puck all the time, he was solid defensively.…
Babcock was not pleased with the defensive effort of William Nylander, who was caught wandering in his own zone on Huberdeau’s goal that narrowed the Toronto lead to 3-2 in the second period. He was replaced by rookie Andreas Johnsson for a shift or two before being put back on the Matthews line for the rest of the game.
“That's what the young guys have got to figure out. If they play good defensively, they're going to get more chances than you can ever imagine versus trying to be cute and then you don't get near as many chances and you give up too much.… Babcock said. “That's just part of growing up in the game and understanding how the game works.…
Marner’s growth in the second half may be forcing Leafs management to alter their plans of letting the 2015 fourth overall pick play out his entry-level contract, as the club did with Nylander this season.
After a slow start, Marner has 67 points in 77 games (six more than he had as a rookie in the same amount of games) and will likely eclipse 70 points in his sophomore campaign. If the Leafs let him to play out his entry-level contract before negotiating a new deal and Marner puts up another 70-point (or more) year, then he could rightly demand a salary in the $7-8 Million per season range.
GM Lou Lamoriello already has a busy summer ahead of him, getting Nylander re-signed and likely extending Matthews when he is eligible to sign a new deal after July 1, but to get the best value on a long-term extension, it is likely that the Leafs will have to get all of their core group locked up before next season.
The Leafs will take on the NY Islanders in Brooklyn on Friday, in the first game of their final back-to-back of the season before returning home to take on the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
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