<p>The <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> showed up to play on Tuesday night in Buffalo and were rewarded in a multitude of ways.</p>
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<p>First off, and most importantly, they secured their <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-clinch-atlantic-division-ottawa-senators-first-round">first Atlantic Division title</a> in the Auston Matthews/Mitch Marner era. The win locks them into first place, and being the second-place team in the Eastern Conference, they&#8217;ll face the first wildcard team in Round 1. And what better way to do that than by reigniting the Battle of Ontario for the first time since 2003-04. The Ottawa Senators will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17, which was the first year the Leafs made it, and the two squads will duke it out in a fresh, new edition of the storied rivalry.</p>
<p>With the most important victory out of the way, we can celebrate some of the individual accolades. With his 27th goal of the season in the final five minutes of the game, Mitch Marner finally <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-mitch-marner-4th-player-franchise-history-100-point-season">hit the century mark</a> and became the fourth player in Maple Leafs history to collect 100 points in a single season. He&#8217;s come as close as you possibly could without actually doing it, with 85 points in 69 games last season, 99 in 80 games the year before, and 97 in 72 games the year before that.</p>
<p>Auston Matthews captured a milestone of his own after an empty-netter near the end of the game, with his 400th goal in 627 career games. At his current pace, he&#8217;s projected to blow past Mats Sundin, who currently holds the record with 420 career goals, and regardless of the down-year by his standards, it&#8217;s important that we remember just what those standards are and how talented of a player he is. He could very well finish his career with double the amount of goals Sundin has, while bringing Selke-level defensive instincts to the table as well. All he&#8217;s missing on his resume is playoff success, but there&#8217;s another chance to add that starting this weekend.</p>
<p>We can&#8217;t move on from the game without giving props to Anthony Stolarz, who technically didn&#8217;t hit a milestone on Tuesday night, but continued his legacy run heading into the playoffs. He has won eight straight games with shutouts in three of his last four games and only 11 goals allowed during that span. It&#8217;s crazy to think there&#8217;s even a debate for who will start Game 1 of the playoffs despite those numbers, but it&#8217;s not a knock on Stolarz, rather just a nod to how well Joseph Woll has played in the backup role and how deep the Leafs have become in net to begin with.</p>
<p>The Leafs will play one final meaningless game on Thursday when they host the Detroit Red Wings for the final game of the season. The real action kicks off on Sunday night. Saddle up, Toronto fans. We&#8217;re doing this again.</p>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong></p>
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The <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a> showed up to play on Tuesday night in Buffalo and were rewarded in a multitude of ways.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
First off, and most importantly, they secured their <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-clinch-atlantic-division-ottawa-senators-first-round">first Atlantic Division title</a> in the Auston Matthews/Mitch Marner era. The win locks them into first place, and being the second-place team in the Eastern Conference, they'll face the first wildcard team in Round 1. And what better way to do that than by reigniting the Battle of Ontario for the first time since 2003-04. The Ottawa Senators will return to the playoffs for the first time since 2016-17, which was the first year the Leafs made it, and the two squads will duke it out in a fresh, new edition of the storied rivalry.

With the most important victory out of the way, we can celebrate some of the individual accolades. With his 27th goal of the season in the final five minutes of the game, Mitch Marner finally <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/toronto-maple-leafs-mitch-marner-4th-player-franchise-history-100-point-season">hit the century mark</a> and became the fourth player in Maple Leafs history to collect 100 points in a single season. He's come as close as you possibly could without actually doing it, with 85 points in 69 games last season, 99 in 80 games the year before, and 97 in 72 games the year before that.

Auston Matthews captured a milestone of his own after an empty-netter near the end of the game, with his 400th goal in 627 career games. At his current pace, he's projected to blow past Mats Sundin, who currently holds the record with 420 career goals, and regardless of the down-year by his standards, it's important that we remember just what those standards are and how talented of a player he is. He could very well finish his career with double the amount of goals Sundin has, while bringing Selke-level defensive instincts to the table as well. All he's missing on his resume is playoff success, but there's another chance to add that starting this weekend.

We can't move on from the game without giving props to Anthony Stolarz, who technically didn't hit a milestone on Tuesday night, but continued his legacy run heading into the playoffs. He has won eight straight games with shutouts in three of his last four games and only 11 goals allowed during that span. It's crazy to think there's even a debate for who will start Game 1 of the playoffs despite those numbers, but it's not a knock on Stolarz, rather just a nod to how well Joseph Woll has played in the backup role and how deep the Leafs have become in net to begin with.

The Leafs will play one final meaningless game on Thursday when they host the Detroit Red Wings for the final game of the season. The real action kicks off on Sunday night. Saddle up, Toronto fans. We're doing this again.

<strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong>
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Knee Jerk Reaction: Battle of Ontario to return in Round 1 with Maple Leafs’ milestone win in Buffalo

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