Sunrise, FL – Phil Kessel scored twice and James Reimer recorded 34 saves for his fourth shutout of the season as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the lowly Florida Panthers, 4-0, at BB&T Center.
Clarke MacArthur and Leo Komarov also scored for the playoff-bound Maple Leafs, who had lost three of four coming in but are still occupying the No. 5 slot in the Eastern Conference standings.
"We didn't feel we played our best last night, so we wanted to come in here and make a statement for ourselves," said Reimer. "That's what we wanted to do today, we wanted to get right back on track and we were able to do that."
Florida has lost seven of eight and will finish with the worst record in the NHL as it sits with 34 points with one game remaining.
Jacob Markstrom was beaten four times on just 17 shots in the loss.
"That stinks, when you're at the bottom of the pile," said Florida head coach Kevin Dineen said. "But that is the brutal reality of our situation and it's something we have to sit on for four months."
Komarov scored from the left circle at the 5:39 mark of the opening period, and MacArthur cleaned up a rebound from the same side with 5:28 remaining in the stanza.
Kessel added to the lead 1:41 into the middle stanza off a feed from Nazem Kadri, then put in his 19th of the season 13 minutes later when he crashed the net and put in a loose puck.
Reimer closed out his shutout with 16 saves over the final 20 minutes.
Game Notes
Three of Kessel's four multi-goal games this season have come in April ... Toronto finished the season with a 13-8-3 road record ... The Panthers went 8-11-5 at home ... Both teams wrap up the regular season Saturday, as the Maple Leafs host Montreal while Florida plays at Tampa Bay.
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