Monday FLA Hockey Round-Up: Panthers, Lightning Both Fall

MAPLE LEAFS 6 PANTHERS 4

Paul Maurice was asked before Monday’s game how to stop Auston Matthews.

“Nobody’s figured that out,” replied the Panthers head coach. “You’re not stopping him … you just hope he’s scoring the next night.” 

After hitting the back of the net for a 60th time over the weekend, the race for 70 is back on for Toronto’s star attraction.

Matthews scored his NHL-leading 61st and 62nd goals of the season to go along with an assist as the Maple Leafs built a 5-1 lead through two periods before hanging on late to down Florida 6-4 in a potential first-round playoff preview. 

Matthew Knies also had a goal and set up another for Toronto (43-22-9), while Tyler Bertuzzi and David Kampf rounded out the offence. 

Matthews is now on pace for 69 goals — which would be the most in the NHL since Mario Lemieux hit the same number in 1995-96 — with eight games left on the schedule.

“We just came out with a lot of purpose,” said Matthews, whose 17 multi-goal performances is the most in a season over the last 30 years. “In the third period, I thought we were a little bit more on our heels than we’d like.”

Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves for the Leafs — minus five regulars, including star winger Mitch Marner (high ankle sprain) for an 11th straight game. 

Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists for Florida (47-23-5). Sam Reinhart, with his 52nd of the season, Sam Bennett and Brandon Montour also scored. Sergei Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 16 shots through two periods before getting the hook. Anthony Stolarz made six saves in relief. 

“We just don’t bring our best in the beginning,” Tarasenko said. “Good pushback, but not enough.”

The Leafs, who sit third in the Atlantic Division and would have matched up against Florida if the playoffs started Monday, had a chance to clinch a post-season berth for an eighth consecutive year, but results elsewhere didn’t go their way. 

The Panthers, meanwhile, could have overtaken the Boston Bruins for first in the Atlantic with a victory. 

UP NEXT 

Florida: Visits the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. 

Toronto: Hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday 

RED WINGS 4, LIGHTNING 2

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — David Perron scored the go-ahead goal with 2:40 remaining and Detroit ended a four-game winless streak with a 4-2 win against the Tampa Bay.

Perron shoveled a rebound past Andrei Vasilevskiy to break a 2-2 tie as the Red Wings won the finale of a five-game road trip. Patrick Kane, Robby Fabbri and Lucas Raymond also scored and Alex Lyon made 34 saves to end a personal 0-8-2 streak and help the Red Wings move within one point of the Philadelphia Flyers for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Anthony Cirelli and Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning, who had been 8-0-1 in their previous nine. Vasilevskiy finished with 28 saves.