The Toronto Maple Leafs have clinched a spot in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. On Wednesday, they defeated the Florida Panthers 3-2 to get one of the eight postseason berths in the Eastern Conference and one of the 16 spots overall.
In the Maple Leafs win, Toronto got goals from Canadian Olympic gold medalist John Tavares of Mississauga, Ontario, Mitch Marner of Markham, Ontario, and Matthew Knies. Marner and Knies had multi-point games as they each had one goal and one assist for two points. Tavares won a gold medal for Canada in men’s ice hockey at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
Gustav Forsling scored the opening goal of the game for the Panthers. The Maple Leafs responded with three unanswered goals.
The Maple Leafs lead the Atlantic Division with 96 points. They currently have a record of 46 wins, 25 regulation losses and four losses in extra time. The Maple Leafs lead the second place Tampa Bay Lightning by three points.
Toronto is the second Canadian team to clinch a playoff spot. The other club is the Winnipeg Jets, which lead the Central Division with 106 points.
The last time the Maple Leafs missed the playoffs was 2015-16. In a strange season, none of the Canadian teams made the playoffs that year.