The Toronto Maple Leafs are the top team in the Atlantic, and if they beat the Florida Panthers tonight, the odds are they win it.
The two Atlantic rivals will face off tonight and if the Toronto Maple Leafs win, then that means they will have put the Panthers chances of a division title to bed.
The Panthers can max out at 102 points, but if the Leafs beat them in regulation tonight, then the most points the Panthers could get is 100, which is what the Leafs would then have. Since the Leafs hold the tie-breaker of regulation wins, they would no longer be able to be caught by Florida.
But let's not pretend the Panthers are losing on purpose in order to face the Leafs.
The Florida Panthers are not trying to face the Toronto Maple Leafs on purpose
The Panthers are already a team suffering through a lot of injuries, and in their last game they healthy-scratched even more good players, thus giving off the impression that they had given up on trying to win the division.
That is probably true - with little reason to over extend themselves trying to for positioning, they just decided to rest some guys. However, to think they actualy want to face the Leafs is ridiculous.
I can guarantee you that no one wants to play the Leafs. The Leafs are not only equipped with a fully healthy team, they have two star goalies, and three franchise players, plus more stars than almost any other team.
Plus they have such a long streak of bad playoff luck that, whether or not there's anything substantial to it in real life, certainly gives the impression that they are due for some good playoff luck. Hockey players are a superstitious people.
The fact is, the Panthers are cup Champs who are confident enough not to care about a playoff matchup. But they aren't trying to face the Leafs on purpose.
The Panthers are just 2 points up on the Senators, so if the Leafs hold off the Lightning and then actually end up getting the horrible matchup winning the division was supposed to avoid, that would be pretty Leafy,
But then again, maybe there is just not that much of a difference between the two teams. Ultimately, the Toronto Maple Leafs have Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews and Anythony Stolarz, so who cares which team they have to play? They shouldn't care at all.