While the Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to exact revenge on Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday, Toronto got no favors from their incoming opponents, who fell to the Boston Bruins 4-3 on Thursday.
The Bruins picked up two points in the standings to increase their lead on the Leafs for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference by three. It should be noted that the Leafs (57 points in 50 games) have a game in hand on the Bruins (60 points in 51 games).
Eastern Conference Wild Card standings per NHL.com
Meanwhile, the Buffalo Sabres, who hold the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, picked up a 4-2 win on the road against the Montreal Canadiens. The Sabres have 61 points in 50 games. The only thing that could have been worse for Toronto is if the game had gone to overtime and the Canadiens squeaked out a point. However, that was not the case here.
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The defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers picked up a 2-1 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets. They moved to just two points back of the Leafs in the Eastern Conference standings with 55 points in 49 games while also having a game in hand on Toronto. As far as tiebreakers go, if Florida gets level with Toronto, the Panthers have five more regulation wins in Toronto and that serves as the first tiebreaker.
The good news for Toronto is that the Ottawa Senators fell 5-3 to the Nashville Predators. Ottawa remains four points back of the Leafs.
