Coming off of a 3-1 loss against the Florida Panthers, the Leafs take the short trip to Tampa Bay to battle for the top spot in the division against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tampa Bay forward Jake Guentzel was a late scratch in this game, putting Tampa down one of their most effective players in an important game.

Early on, the game was physical and high energy. Less than a minute and a half in, Mitch Marner put Toronto on the board early with a beautiful goal from the right hash marks that beat the Tampa goaltender on the blocker side. Mitch grabbed 2 points in this game, giving him 96 on the year; 4 away until he can notch his first 100 point season.

2:20 later, Matthew Knies scored his first in the game off a rebound from an Auston Matthews shot from below the left face-off circle. Tampa Bay’s Nick Perbix cut the lead in half with just over a minute in the period with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle to beat Stolarz.

With no scoring in the second period, Oliver Bjorkstrand tied the game with a power-play goal less than a minute into the third period. Matthew Knies didn’t take too kindly to that, scoring less than two minutes later on a Toronto power play to regain the one-goal lead.

Victor Hedman scored on another Tampa Bay powerplay to tie the game at 3-3 with 11 minutes left in the game. Stolarz was screened and Hedman scored off a point shot.

Overtime was a high paced affair, with Toronto getting numerous breakaway chances and not being able to capitalize.

Tampa Bay had gained the zone and the puck went across the slot to Nikita Kucherov, who tipped it wide and behind the Toronto net. The Leafs picked it up and went up the ice, picked up by Domi and brought across to Knies, who passed between-the-legs to Morgan Rielly as they gained the zone. Rielly missed the one-timer, but gets the puck back and passes to the drifting Auston Matthews who finds Knies all alone just left of the net, wide open for the tap-in winner.

With this hattrick from Knies, the Maple Leafs gained the two points and amassed 100 points on the season, widening the gap just a little bit in front of the Tampa Bay Lighting. Toronto’s next game is Saturday, April 13th against the Montreal Canadiens.