The Toronto Maple Leafs are on the verge of winning their first Atlantic Division ever and the first divisional title after colleting points in six straight games with a record of 5-0-1 during that stretch, which included victories against the Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets this past week.
Helping the Toronto Maple Leafs build up a lead in the division were the Ottawa Senators who won in regulation on Thursday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, followed by the Buffalo Sabres snatching victory in overtime against the Lightning.
Meanwhile the other divisional opponent Panthers collected just one point over three games in the week losing to the Maple Leafs and Senators in regulation, while picking up just a single point against the Canadiens in an overtime loss on Tuesday.
With just six games for the Maple Leafs, Panthers and Lightning remaining in the schedule, Toronto has built up a four point lead on Tampa Bay and a six point lead on Florida. The magic number for the Maple Leafs to clinch the divisional title is down to eight points, which means a combination of Toronto points gained with points lost by Tampa Bay equaling eight gives the Maple Leafs to the division.
Auston Matthews sits alone in second
While Alex Ovechkin takes down the Wayne Gretzky all-time goal scoring record and Sidney Crosby knocks down the "Great One's" point per game season record, Maple Leafs legend Auston Matthews is cleaning up the franchise record book. Saturday night, the 2016 first overall pick collected his ninth 30-goal season, which makes him just the second Toronto Maple Leafs player to record that total sitting just one season behind Mats Sundin for the club record of ten 30-goal seasons.
Matthews already has the record for most 40-goal seasons (six) and most 60-goal seasons (two), while also sitting just one behind Rick Vaive for most 50-goal seasons (three).
Nicholas Robertson does it again
Many will argue that he should never come out of the line-up, but Nicholas Robertson is making a statement he should probably sit 41 games a year as to get that "back in the line-up" boost he has shown to have. Saturday night, the California native returned to the roster against the Blue Jackets after sitting out three consecutive games and immediately contributed with the first two goals of the contest.
Seven times this year, the 2019 second round pick has come out of the line-up and on three of those occasions he has come back and put the puck in the next. On one return he scored in three consecutive games; while on one other instance he came back with an assist, followed by scoring in the next game.
With his two goals against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Robertson tied his career best of 14 he recorded last year. The Maple Leafs need game breakers and the 23-year old has shown to have a top three or four shot on the team which was demonstrated Saturday night; what he now needs to avoid is the costly mistakes he makes away from the puck.
William Nylander Continues to Score
I'll say it, the most underrated player in the NHL is William Nylander and he is showing why he is worth that eight-year extension he signed last season as he continues to set a new personal best in goals. Like Robertson, Nylander collected a pair of tallies against Columbus on Saturday night which gives him 44 on the season. His total puts him second in the league behind Edmonton Oiler Leon Draisaitl and while he is unlikely to catch the German center, he is climbing up the Maple Leafs single season scoring list.
The Swedish-Calgarian is now 15th on the single season mark for Maple Leafs and if he can get really hot down the stretch with six goals in his final six games he would become just the fifth player in franchise history to record 50-goals in a single season.
The Maple Leafs have three games this upcoming week with back-to-back contests in Florida and Tampa Bay on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by hosting the Montreal Canadiens next Saturday.