Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs beat the Panthers 3-2 in an Atlantic Division showdown

John Tavares and Matthew Knies also scored to help division-leading Toronto wrap up a playoff spot and and move three points ahead of Tampa Bay and four in front of Florida. Marner and Knies also had assists.

Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for defending Stanley Cip champion Florida. Gustav Forsling also scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots.

Takeaways Panthers: Florida was without captain Aleksander Barkov (upper-body injury) after he was hurt Tuesday night in a 3-2 overtime loss in Montreal. The club also continues to play without star forward Matthew Tkachuk (lower-body injury) and defenseman Aaron Ekblad, (20-game suspension).

Maple Leafs: Tavares has 15 goals in 20 games since the 4 Nations Face-Off to lead the NHL. The 34-year-old pending unrestricted free agent has 36 goals in in 68 games this season.

Key moment Marner made it 2-1 with 9:10 left after Bobrovsky, who stopped Bobby McMann on a breakaway moments earlier, couldn’t squeeze the initial shot off the stick of Auston Matthews.

Key stat Matthews needs one goal to become the fifth player in franchise history with at least 30 in their first season as captain. He would join Rick Vaive (54), Darryl Sittler (41), Mats Sundin (33) and Dave Keon (32).

Up next Both teams play Saturday night. The Panthers are at Ottawa. The Maple Leafs host Columbus.

FLA leads series 2-1