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The Maple Leafs are going back to the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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Though idle, the Leafs on Friday night clinched a spot in the 2024 tournament.
There were four potential scenarios involving games that would result in the Leafs’ favour if one was to unfold.
When the Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Buffalo Sabres in any fashion (4-2 in regulation) and the Washington Capitals lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in regulation (also by a 4-2 score), the Leafs were in.
It’s the Leafs’ eighth consecutive post-season appearance, tied for the team’s longest run in the post-expansion era and tied for the third-longest in team history.
Four Leafs — Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly — have played in all 50 Toronto games in the past seven playoffs.
Matthews and Marner can join Borje Salming and Ian Turnbull as the only players in Leafs history to reach the playoffs in at least each of their first eight NHL seasons. Salming and Turnbull both did it from 1973-74 to 1980-81.
Also on Friday, the Tampa Bay Lightning clinched a playoff spot after the Flyers, Capitals and Detroit Red Wings all lost in regulation.
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