Maple Leafs vs. Lightning observations: The quest for 70 comes up short
Maple Leafs vs. Lightning observations: The quest for 70 comes up short
The Maple Leafs' final regular-season game was supposed to be about getting Matthews to his milestone.
The Toronto Maple Leafs took the ice at Amalie Arena on Wednesday with no serious ambitions beyond putting the finishing touch on a significant milestone.
While their final game of the regular season had no implications for playoff seeding, the team had 60 minutes to help Auston Matthews reach the 70-goal mark. Whether the team won or lost wasn’t overly important, particularly considering a number of players were resting or nursing injuries before a postseason push.
That situation made for a strange combination of low and high stakes. Matthews was fighting for a historic accomplishment he may never be able to achieve again while most of his teammates were simply hoping to get through the contest unscathed.
All of that resulted in a 6-4 loss where the Tampa Bay Lightning succeeded in their own milestone chase as Nikita Kucherov earned his 100th assist of the season.