The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Dallas Stars 5-3 last night at American Airlines Center to forge a 61-61 tie with the Florida Panthers in the standings. Thanks for nothing, Stars…
Auston Matthews, Zach Hyman, Tyson Barrie, William Nylander and Andreas Johnsson scored the goals and Frederik Andersen made 31 saves.
Florida is still officially in third place in the Atlantic Division by virtue of playing two less game than Toronto, but will need to get right back to winning once they resume play on Saturday in Montreal.
In other bad news, but unsurprising news from the west coast, the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied for a two-goal deficit to defeat the Los Angeles Kings by a 4-2 count.
The Bolts now lead the Cats by four points with a game in hand.
Tonight’s game of mild interest to Panthers fans is between Montreal and Buffalo, two times desperately trying to stay relevant in the playoff chase.