Maple Leafs clinch Atlantic Division with shutout win against Sabres 

BUFFALO -- Anthony Stolarz made 35 saves for the Toronto Maple Leafs, who clinched first place in the Atlantic Division with a 4-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

“It's huge (to win the division),” Stolarz said. “I mean, to be able to start the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs on home ice, in front of our home fans, it's massive for us. You get that last change, you get that Game 7 home ice, so it's quite an accomplishment for this group, and we're super excited about it.”

It was the second straight shutout for Stolarz, who stopped 15 shots in a 1-0 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. He has three shutouts in his past four games and hasn’t allowed a goal in a career-long 132:27.

“I feel good,” said Stolarz, who has won eight straight starts. “But I think at the end of the day, I think the guys are really committing to a complete two-way game up and down the ice. I mean, you look at all the blocked shots, the way guys are sacrificing their body right now, the backcheck. It's what it's [going to] take to go far in the playoffs. I just think that we have to continue this trend.”

Auston Matthews scored his 400th NHL goal, and Mitch Marner scored to reach 100 points (27 goals, 73 assists) in a season for the first time in his NHL career for the Maple Leafs (51-26-4), who have won four in a row and will face the Ottawa Senators in the first round. Ottawa is the first wild card in the Eastern Conference.

“It means lot,” Matthews, the Toronto captain, said of his milestone. “Obviously this group's been really supportive all year. And individual awards are nice; I think it's nice to check off certain things, obviously. But the focus is still on the team and doing what's best for the team and continue to put our best foot forward here, one more game and then the postseason. So, we've just got to stay focused and stay dialed in mentally on our game and on the guys in this room.”

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 28 saves for the Sabres (35-39-7), who are 0-3-1 after a five-game winning streak.

“We left a lot of good chances out there,” Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said. “Tight game. It was a hard-fought game. We were doing a lot of good stuff against those two top lines and we were generating enough to win it. … Second period, we left too many chances there.”

Steven Lorentz gave Toronto a 1-0 lead at 14:15 of the second period, beating Luukkonen with a one-timer from the left hash marks off a backhanded pass from Scott Laughton in the left corner.

Marner one-timed a cross-crease pass from Matthews at the bottom of the right circle to make it 2-0 at 15:39 of the third period.

“It's a special thing, for sure,” Marner said of reaching 100 points. “Those accomplishments don't happen by yourself, and that's just credit to a lot of guys in that locker room that have helped me out and supported me through this year and made some unbelievable plays for me and have put some in from my passes. I think the really cool thing is just the excitement from the guys for that point and seeing their excitement for me, so that was really cool just to experience.”

Matthews scored an empty-net goal to push it to 3-0 at 18:08 after Marner passed up an open shot to find him. He’s the second player in Maple Leafs history to score 400 goals, after Mats Sundin (420).

“[Marner has] definitely set up quite a few of those,” Matthews said. “In the end it's a team accomplishment, I think. I mean it's a team sport. There's a lot that goes into it, and I'm just fortunate that it's come off my stick a couple of times.”

Nicholas Robertson roofed a backhand at 18:43 for the 4-0 final.

“They played pretty patient,” Sabres forward Jason Zucker said. “We still had our looks. ‘Upie’ played really, really well tonight. Kept us in the game for a long time. We didn’t capitalize, and then we gave up too much at the end of the game there.”

NOTES: Matthews is the sixth-fastest player in NHL history to 400 goals (628 games), behind Wayne Gretzky (436 games), Mike Bossy (506), Mario Lemieux (508), Brett Hull (520) and Jari Kurri (608). … Marner is the fourth player in Maple Leafs history with 100 points in a season, after Doug Gilmour, Darryl Sittler, and Matthews. … Toronto clinched its division title for third time in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68). … Toronto won its 25th road game of the season, the most in franchise history. … Buffalo had won seven straight at home.