The Toronto Maple Leafs wrapped up their California road trip with five of six possible points following a shootout loss in San Jose on Thursday, a win in Los Angeles on Saturday, and a 3-2 win on Sunday over the Anaheim Ducks.

Although the Leafs would have clinched a playoff spot if the Florida Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens earlier in the day, it was somewhat of a win-win situation because the Panthers’ loss allowed them to extend their lead to three points for the division lead. Max Domi opened the scoring with a highlight reel third line goal, Mitch Marner scored the second with one of his own, and Steven Lorentz scored the game-winner just over halfway into the third period.

The biggest games are yet to come for the Leafs, with two more games against the Panthers and one more against the Lightning coming up in the month of April, but at this stage of the season with a playoff race as tight as this one, stockpiling as many points as you can is imperative to your success. The Leafs haven’t held the division lead this late in the season since the 2020-21 COVID season, and although they didn’t do anything with the favourable seeding, locking up home ice advantage will be a crucial leg up to have, especially if they end up playing one of the Florida teams.

Joseph Woll bounced back nicely after what was likely one of the worst games of his career to date against the San Jose Sharks, stopping 28 of 30 shots for the win, and Scott Laughton continues to look more comfortable as the games keep coming and going. He collected a secondary assist on the Domi goal and has looked more involved in the play night after night, despite a slow start offensively and some early concerns due to how much the Leafs paid up to acquire him. Extra props go to the Leafs’ defensive stalwart trio of Chris Tanev, Jake McCabe, and Brandon Carlo for blocking a combined 13 shots in the game, many of which came on the Ducks’ four power plays and at the end of the game when the opposing net was empty.

The Leafs will be back in action for one of the biggest games of the season to date when they host the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.