» Matthew Knies’s hat trick extends Leafs division lead on Tampa Bay

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To invoke the Tragically Hip, Matthew Knies has the Maple Leafs ahead by a century in their pursuit of first place in the Atlantic Division.

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His overtime goal, on a tap-in, completed a hat trick on Wednesday night as the Leafs reached 100 points and gained a three-point margin over the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-3 final at Amalie Arena.

A night after Knies was one of the most vocal Leafs for their no-show down the road in Sunrise against the Panthers, he delivered his 10th goal in nine games versus the Lightning and first in OT on a nifty Auston Matthews pass.

The extra period produced huge breakaway saves at both ends by Toronto’s Anthony Stolarz and the home side’s Andrei Vasilevskiy, but the Leafs swept the season series 4-0.

The Leafs top line of Matthews, Knies and Mitch Marner combined for nine points, three by each.

The game began and ended with a flurry of offence sandwiched between a tight scoreless second period.
Tampa opened the third with an Oliver Bjorkstrand power play goal off some nifty puck movement to tie the game 2-2.

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But the penalized John Tavares drew a double minor himself seconds later when Emil Lilleberg gave him a nasty nosebleed from a high stick.

Toronto struck quickly on that power-play to regain the lead, Knies poking away at a rebound after Tavares had won a draw to Marner.

The Leafs didn’t allow a shot on goal when the Bolts went had another extra man for a minute and a half, but an added Bobby McMann minor in a scrum with Erik Cernak gave Victor Hedman the tying goal.
After a paltry shot count in Florida, just 18, with their Core Four almost completely shut down, the fired-up Leafs had 10 in the opening period and led 2-0 in less than four minutes.

Both their goals were generated by steals, first Matthews at the Tampa blueline for a Marner deke and snap, then the same two players in reverse roles. On the second, Vasilevskiy did get a pad on Matthews’ drive, but Knies stuffed in the rebound.

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Toronto banged on the door again a few times after that, with Bobby McMann, Tavares on a partial breakaway out of the penalty box and Max Domi passing to the hard-luck Scott Laughton all coming close.

That allowed the Lightning, which was without gunner Jake Guentzel — at home with his pregnant wife — to get its new lines untracked and score late in the first after ringing a couple of posts. Nick Perbix beat Stolarz through a screen with 1:02 to play. That reeled in the free-wheeling a bit, as Toronto circled the wagons and blocked a season-high 33 shots.

While Tuesday’s loss wasn’t on Joseph Woll’s shoulders, the poise of Stolarz shone through again on Wednesday, the whole rink could hear him direct the Leafs defence. He has the inside lane on being the Game 1 starter no matter the foe.

Both teams had made lineup changes, Craig Berube electing to flip bottom six wingers Scott Laughton and Nick Robertson. The coach also shuffled the defence, breaking up Morgan Rielly and Brandon Carlo, the former with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, the latter partnering Simon Benoit as the Leafs continue to compensate for the injured Jake McCabe.

Already without Guentzel and choosing to dress seven defencemen, the Lightning was down to 10 forwards after Luke Glendenning exited less than three minutes into the game.
Lhornby@postmedia.com
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