Tavares scores four, Maple Leafs defeat Panthers to gain in Atlantic

TORONTO -- John Tavares scored four goals in a game for the first time in his NHL career, and the Toronto Maple Leafs gained in the race for second place in the Atlantic Division with a 7-5 win against the Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

"As good as tonight was, we've got to keep pushing forward and keep working and keep finding different ways to be productive and hard to play against so we can continue to be as good as we can be into the Stanley Cup] Playoffs," said Tavares, whose 45 goals are three behind Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals for the NHL lead.
[WATCH: [All Panthers vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
The Maple Leafs (45-25-6) moved to within five points of the Boston Bruins, who lost 5-4 at the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Maple Leafs and Bruins each have six games remaining.
Jayce Hawryluk had two goals and an assist, and Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice for Florida (33-31-12), which trails the Montreal Canadiens by 10 points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Robert Luongo made 28 saves after replacing Sam Montembeault, who was pulled at 4:21 of the first period after Jake Muzzin scored with a slap shot to make it 2-0 on Toronto's fourth shot.

The Panthers have lost four of their past five games, including 7-3 to the Bruins at home Saturday.
"It's embarrassing the way we've played the last three or four games, me included," defenseman Aaron Ekblad said. "It's unfortunate, and as part of the leadership group, I take full responsibility for it. The best we can do is learn from it and move on."
Patrick Marleau put the Maple Leafs up 1-0 at 2:06 of the first period when he scored off a cross-ice pass from Nazem Kadri.
Tavares backhanded the rebound of a Mitchell Marner shot between Luongo's pads on the power play at 11:05 to make it 3-0.

"We come into every game with a game plan," Ekblad said. "Especially against a team like Toronto tonight, we know they can score goals. We wanted to limit their chances, and obviously we didn't do a good job of that. The bounces didn't go our way, but it doesn't matter, you have to make your own bounces."
Hawryluk deflected a pass from Mike Hoffman to get Florida to within 3-1 at 13:23.
Tavares put the Maple Leafs up 4-1 at 15:04 when he one-timed a pass from Zach Hyman.
Mike Matheson made it 4-2 at 16:25 with a shot from the blue line.
Tavares completed second hat trick of the season at 5:51 of the second period when he put in the rebound of a Morgan Rielly shot to make it 5-2.

Tavares scored his fourth of the game at 3:57 of the third period to make it 6-2.
"No, not really, [Tavares] doesn't surprise me anymore," said Marner, who had three assists to reach 90 points (25 goals, 65 assists) for the first time in the NHL. "Going into the summer, I knew the kind of player he was and knew what he could bring to this team. It's been a lot of fun playing with him."
Huberdeau made it 6-3 at 5:34, but Hyman scored his 20th of the season at 6:51 to make it 7-3.
"It's always nice when you hit milestones in wins," Hyman said. "It makes everybody feel better. Twenty goals is a big milestone for me, for sure, but really it's just about keeping going."
Huberdeau scored at 13:36 on the power play to make it 7-4, and Hawryluk scored with 2:24 remaining for the 7-5 final.
Frederik Andersen made 31 saves for Toronto.

They said it

"You hate to leave your goalie out to dry that early when he's not even warm with such Grade A chances. Especially with the skill they have, they'll capitalize on it, and they did. I feel like two games in a row we've left him out to dry. As a young goalie, sometimes you need your guys in front of you to step up and not give up such good chances, and we didn't do that tonight for him." -- Panthers forward Jayce Hawryluk on rookie goalie Sam Montembeault
"Just the way that he scores and the way that he plays. He plays hard. He's not a guy that can only score from distance. He scores greasy ones, he scores nice ones. He works hard down low and can make plays, he can really do it all. When you watch him work the way he does and grind the way he does but also have his skill, it's pretty to watch." -- Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly on center John Tavares

Need to know

Tavares has scored three goals in a game nine times in his NHL career, most recently in the Maple Leafs' 7-6 overtime win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 7, 2018. ... It was the first four-goal game by a Toronto player since Auston Matthews in his NHL debut Oct. 12, 2016. ... Tavares passed Eddie Olczyk for most goals by a player in his first season with the Maple Leafs. Olczyk had 42 in 1987-88. ... Marleau played his 1,651st NHL game, tying Chris Chelios for sixth in NHL history. ... It was the second two-goal game and first three-point game in the NHL for Hawryluk, who has played 37 games.

What's next

Panthers: At the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN2, RDS, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: At the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday (7 p.m. ET; SN, TVAS, NBCSP, NHL.TV)