In their final regular-season matchup Wednesday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning will try to put three-game slides behind them.
In doing so, the two Atlantic Division clubs will meet for the fourth time in their season finale in Tampa, Fla.
The Maple Leafs (46-25-10, 102 points) hold a 2-1 advantage against the Lightning this season after recording pair of overtime wins in the first two matchups and losing most recently in regulation on April 3.
But after Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss against the Florida Panthers, Toronto saw its playoff destiny change.
With the Boston Bruins needing to win or come away with two points in their two most recent games — either at the Washington Capitals or home against the Ottawa Senators — a Toronto-Florida first-round matchup seemed inevitable.
However, an anemic Boston offense scored just one goal in the two matches and lost both in regulation.
Meanwhile, Florida’s four-goal second period erased Toronto’s 2-0 early lead on Tuesday.
The ensuing win by the Panthers earned them a second Atlantic Division title in three seasons and a first-round date with the in-state rival Lightning.
For the Leafs, it’s off to Beantown to open the postseason in an Original Six matchup.
Mitch Marner and Noah Gregor each scored a goal on Tuesday for Toronto, leaving Auston Matthews stuck on 69 goals.
Naturally, Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe was faced with the subject of taking his club’s health into consideration and the prospect of Matthews hitting the 70-goal mark in Tampa.
“We want to get out of the game healthy, which it looks like we did here tonight,” Keefe said after the Leafs lost their third straight game (0-2-1). “To that end, it’s a successful night.”
So, will Matthews play against the Lightning?
“We’ll talk about it. We have 12 healthy forwards,” Keefe said.
The Lightning (44-29-8, 96 points) have one game left to get back to the little things that made them successful this season.
In a rather meaningless game against the Buffalo Sabres on Monday, more attention was placed on captain Steven Stamkos reaching a milestone goal and Nikita Kucherov padding his lead in the Art Ross Trophy race.
Both players achieved those personal accomplishments, but Tampa Bay lost on the scoreboard 4-2. The setback marked the Lightning’s third defeat in four games (1-1-2) at the hands of the disappointing Sabres, who fired coach Don Granato Tuesday.
Stamkos scored the 40th goal of his career for the seventh time in his 16 seasons.
Meanwhile, Kucherov assisted on the captain’s goal, giving him 142 points, four ahead of Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon. Each player has one game remaining in the regular season.
Kucherov, who has 43 goals and 99 assists, won the Art Ross Trophy, awarded to the league’s top point producer, in the 2018-19 campaign.
But for a game that meant nothing in playoff seeding, the Lightning lost a key player in Luke Glendening — a grinding center who excels in the circle — and slipped into some turnover-ridden bad habits.
“Just sloppy, sloppy, sloppy,” Stamkos said after his squad lost for the third straight time (0-2-1). “Not much too look at that was good tonight. We’ve got one game left to do the little things right. It just wasn’t great.”
The Lightning played their second straight match without bottom-six winger Tyler Motte, who is out with a lower-body injury.
–Field Level Media
