The Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night by a score of 3-2.
For the Toronto Maple Leafs, it was their fourth win in five games (in the one loss, they came back with two empty-netters, forced OT only to lose to San Jose) where they have pickd up nine out of ten points.
This nice little run by the Leafs has culminated in putting them in the driver's seat for the stretch run and making them the current favorite to win the Atlantic Division, something they have never actually done.
As of right now, each team has played 75 games, and the Leafs have 96 points, four up on Florida and three up on Tampa. Technically, with 14 points available to them, the Ottawa Senators can still hit 100 points and push one of the Leafs, Florida or Tampa into the Wild Card spot, but that would be a longshot as Ottawa would have to run the table.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Atlantic Division Battle Royal: Weekend Preview
The Senators will host Florida on Saturday and Columbus on Sunday. Any combination of Leafs getting points and Ottawa failing to get points that adds up to 4 (assuming the Leafs own the first tie-breaker) will prevent Ottawa from catching Toronto.
If the Leafs end up winning the division, their most likely opponent would then be Ottawa. Even though the Senators have beaten the Leafs this year, I don't think it matters. The Leafs are a significantly better team than Ottawa, and they'd obvious rather not start off playing one of the Cup winning teams from Florida.
This doesn't mean that Ottawa will be an automatic win, it just means don't overthink it. It's better to play the worst team, even if they're still a pretty good team.
The Panthers, as mentioned, will play Ottawa on Saturday. On Sunday they will travel to Detroit to play the Red Wings. The Wings can still get to 91 points if they win every game, so it's worth watching how they play this weekend as well, and this is their only game.
The Lightning have just one game this weekend as well, and it's against Buffalo on Saturday.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, meanwhile, also play just the once. They will take on the Blue Jackets on Saturday night. The Leafs will try to do the Senators and Canadiens a huge favor by limiting the Blue Jackets to a maximum of 91 points with a regulation victory against them.
As for the Canadiens, they get an easy weekend against Philly and Nashville. Should they take all four points, it would go a long way to securing their playoff spot.
All in all, it's going to be a great weekend for watching hockey.