Milestones galore as Maple Leafs beat Sabres to clinch division

Auston Matthews scored his 400th NHL goal, Anthony Stolarz made 35 saves, Mitch Marner reached the 100-point plateau and the Toronto Maple Leafs clinched the Atlantic Division with Tuesday’s 4-0 road shutout of the Buffalo Sabres.
Toronto won its first Atlantic title and just its third division title of any kind since the NHL adopted divisional play in the 1967-68 season. The Maple Leafs will face the Ottawa Senators (the Eastern Conference’s top wild card) in an all-Canadian matchup in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Leafs (51-26-4, 106 points) are on a four-game win streak and are 12-2-1 in their last 15 games. Toronto’s 106 points are the third-highest points total in franchise history.
The red-hot Stolarz has recorded back-to-back shutouts and three shutouts in his last four games. Over his last eight games, Stolarz is a perfect 8-0-0 with a .950 save percentage, and he’s tied for the fifth-longest winning streak of any goalie in Leafs history.
Matthews hit the 400-goal plateau in his 628th NHL game, making him the sixth-fastest player to reach the milestone.
Marner’s 27th goal gave him his 100th point of the 2024-25 campaign. Marner is the fourth Maple Leafs player to ever collect 100 or more points in a single season.
Steven Lorentz and Nicholas Robertson scored the Leafs’ other goals.
The loss ended the Sabres’ seven-game winning streak on home ice. Buffalo (35-39-7, 77 points) is 0-3-1 in its last four games overall.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 28 of 31 shots.
The game was scoreless until 14:15 of the second period, when Scott Laughton fought to win the puck in the corner and passed to Lorentz for a one-timer from the edge of the circle. Five of Lorentz’s eight goals this season have been game-winning tallies.
Toronto’s one-goal lead stood until the Maple Leafs exploded for three goals in the last 4:21 of play. Marner scored at 15:39 of the third period, Matthews collected an empty-netter at the 18:08 mark and Robertson added an insurance goal 35 seconds later.