Maple Leafs Bury Panthers

     John Tavares scored four goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs rolled over the Florida Panthers 7-5 at Scotiabank Arena on Monday night. The Panthers have lost four of their last five games and surrendered 14 goals in the last two games.
     The Montreal Canadiens are two points away from eliminating Florida from the Eastern Conference playoff race and can eliminate them in person on Tuesday. The Maple Leafs are 3-4-1 in their last eight contests.
     Toronto(45-35-6) struck early at 2:06 as Patrick Marleau made it 1-0. Jake Muzzin added the lead with a tally at the 4:21 mark. Sam Montembeualt was pulled from the cage for Roberto Luongo after giving up two goals on four shots.
     It did not help as the Maple Leafs found the net again for a 3-0 lead. John Tavares converted on a power-play goal with assists from Mitchell Marner and Auston Matthews at 11:05.
     Florida(33-31-12) stopped the bleeding with 6:37 remaining in the first on a give-and-go play. Jayce Hawryluk tapped the puck to Mike Hoffman in the neutral zone and he crossed into Leafs territory. He made a turnaround pass in the right circle and Hawryluk redirected it from the low slot by Frederik Andersen for his sixth goal of the year.
     The Maple Leafs brought it back to a three-goal margin with 4:56 left. William Nylander angled a pass from the left point to Zach Hyman in the high slot. He skated into the left circle, centered the puck with a backhand and Tavares flicked the puck in from the right side of the blue paint by Luongo for his second tally of the game and 43rd of the season.
     The Cats cut it down to 4-2 when they scored with 3:35 to go. Vincent Trocheck cycled the puck from the left corner up to the left point. Mike Matheson snapped a shot for his eighth goal of the campaign.
     In the second period, Toronto moved ahead 5-2 at 5:51. Morgan Rielly shot the puck from the left circle which was saved, however Tavares put in a wrist shot for the hat trick and 44th goal of the season.
     Tavares picked up his fourth goal of the contest at 3:57 of the third period. Marner slapped the puck on goal and Tavares chipped in the rebound shot from the top of the crease. It was the first time in his NHL career that Tavares was able to score four goals in a game.
     The Panthers answered back at the 5:34 mark to make it 6-3. Aleksander Barkov made a left-outlet pass from the high slot to Evgenii Dadonov in the left circle. His centering pass went off a Toronto skate in the crease area and Jonathan Huberdeau batted the puck in from the right goal line for his 24th goal of the year.
     Toronto kept going and got a four-goal gap again at 6:51.  Marner was at the blue line and sent a short pass tom Reilly on the left wing. He connected a pass to Hyman all alone in the blue paint and he shoveled in a forehand shot for his 20th goal. Marner became the first Maple Leafs player with 90 points in a season since Mats Sundin in 1996-97.
     Florida put together two goals in the final minutes of the contest.  Huberdeau placed in a power-play tally for his second goal with 6:24 left and Hawryluk got his second goal and his first career three-point game with 2:24 remaining.