Allgemeine News » After reaching the Cup final in their first season

TORONTO (AP) The Toronto Maple Leafs know they’ve just completed the best statistical season in franchise history.And Frederik Andersen knows he now holds the team’s all-time record for goalie wins in a season.What remains a mystery for the Leafs is their first-round playoff opponent.Andersen made 31 saves to pick up his 38th victory of the season Saturday and Toronto closed out its schedule by defeating the Montreal Canadiens 4-2.The Leafs finished with a club-record 105 points – bettering the 103 earned in the pre-lockout 2003-04 season before the shootout was introduced to break ties – but will have to wait until the Boston Bruins play the Florida Panthers on Sunday to see where they open their next playoff chapter.A win for the Bruins over the Panthers http://www.sanjosesharksteamshop.com/authentic-joe-thornton-jersey , who have been eliminated from postseason contention, would see Boston move into first in the Atlantic Division and set up a meeting between Tampa Bay and Toronto.A victory in regulation for the Panthers, meanwhile, would see the Leafs and Bruins square off.Asked if he would be watching Sunday’s finale, a makeup game after Boston and Florida were snowed out in January, Andersen indicated he has other plans.”No,” he said. ”I’m going to watch the Masters.”Auston Matthews scored his 34th goal of the season to match his jersey number and added an assist for Toronto (49-26-7), which also set club records for overall victories and home wins (29).Zach Hyman, Nazem Kadri and Patrick Marleau had the other goals for the Leafs, who are going to the playoffs for the second consecutive spring. Jake Gardiner added two assists.Andersen’s 37 victories coming in saw him sit tied with Ed Belfour (2002-03) and Andrew Raycroft (2006-07) for the most by a Toronto goalie in a season.Now he sits alone in first.”It’s fun when you set goals at the beginning of the year and then you achieve some of them,” Andersen said. ”It goes without saying that there are bigger goals.”Leafs coach Mike Babcock was pleased to see his team come through for its goalie in a game that didn’t mean anything in the standings.”He’s been a huge part of our team,” Babcock said. ”That record is a special, special thing.”Daniel Carr and Jeff Petry scored for Montreal (29-40-13). Carey Price stopped 26 shots for the visitors as the Canadiens wrapped up a disappointing season.The players observed a moment of silence before the game to honor the victims of Friday’s horrific crash in Saskatchewan that saw a tractor-trailer collide with a bus carrying a junior hockey team, killing 15 people and injuring 14 others.The Leafs and Canadiens also sported Broncos decals on their helmets.Tied 1-1 through 40 minutes, Hyman chipped a rebound past Price just 37 seconds into the third for his 15th goal and 40th point of the season after Matthews took the initial shot.Andersen made a good stop on Brendan Gallagher’s one-timer with four minutes to go, before the Leafs went to the power play with 3:45 left when Michael McCarron hacked Matthews to the ice with the center bearing down on what could have been his 35th goal.But Kadri wouldn’t be denied with 2:50 left when he backhanded his 32nd over Price before Petry then scored his 12th with 40.2 seconds left in regulation.Marleau put things to bed with his 27th on a Price mistake with 9.8 seconds still on the clock as the Canadiens limped to the finish line after topping the Atlantic with 103 points last season.”We’re still playing the game we love Womens Joonas Donskoi Jersey ,” Gallagher said. ”But the games haven’t been meaningful.”Just never want to feel this (way) or go through this ever again.”Down 1-0 after Matthews extended his point streak to 10 games – he now has seven goals and seven assists over that span – late in the first, the Canadiens came close when Andersen denied Gallagher twice on a power play in the second.”He’s been unbelievable for us, probably our best player all year,” Matthews said the Leafs goalie. ”He’s kept us in games, won us games all throughout the year and been a brick wall.”Montreal got even with 3:56 left in the second when Carr scored his sixth on a rebound.Matthews struck on the power play with 1:55 left in the first when William Nylander wheeled down from the point, froze Price and delivered a sweet cross-ice feed for a wide-open net to get the ball rolling on a milestone night.Now all the Leafs can do is sit and wait to find out where they’ll open the playoffs next week as the Atlantic’s No. 3 seed – either Boston or Tampa.”We don’t know who we’re playing,” Babcock said. ”Both teams are very good hockey clubs.”We’re in for a great test and it should be a lot of fun.”UP NEXT:Canadiens: Season over.Maple Leafs: first round of the playoffs.— The first big free agent re-signing with his own team is just the beginning of what’s to come around the NHL.Defenseman John Carlson signed a $64 million, eight-year deal with the Stanley Cup champion Washington Capitals. His agent and the representatives for other pending unrestricted free agents were able to start talking to any interested teams on Sunday at the beginning of the negotiating window that precedes the opening of the market July 1.Serious talks between New York Islanders center John Tavares and five suitors begin Monday in what should be the next step in shaking out signings and trades.”There’s going to be a lot happening,” Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said Saturday in Dallas.”Things have sort of been at a standstill around the league, but I think with the free agent market being opened up to be able to have discussions with the agents, that will help, as well. Once you talk, you have an idea that you’re going to be able to get a free agent or if you won’t, then it might sort of move some teams to start looking at potential trades.”Only a handful of current NHL players were traded over the weekend at the draft: four in a swap between Carolina and Calgary and Washington sending two to Colorado to clear salary-cap space to re-sign Carlson. Montreal could still try to trade captain Max Pacioretty this week, and Hurricanes GM Don Waddell wants to make a move for a goaltender and said there’s a lot of interest in winger Jeff Skinner.”We have a lot of other possibilities, pieces to move around Justin Braun Jersey Kids ,” Waddell said.Tavares headlines this free agent class and his decision – reportedly among the Sharks, Maple Leafs, Stars, Bruins, Lightning, incumbent Islanders and perhaps a few more teams – could set up the rest of the market.Paul Stastny is the next-best free agent center available followed by the likes of Tyler Bozak, Derek Ryan and Tomas Plekanec. Teams that don’t land one of them could turn to Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly, who may be a better candidate to be traded July 2 after the Sabres pay him a $7.5 million bonus.At $8 million a year, Carlson ties Brent Burns for the second-highest cap hit in the league among defenseman behind only P.K. Subban’s $9 million with Nashville. Agent Rick Curran fielded calls from other teams Sunday before the deal got done with the Capitals.”Whatever your intentions are, you still have to do your due diligence because there’s more to it for me than that,” Carlson said Monday in Arlington, Virginia. ”I was hoping we could get something done and it worked itself out.”The Sharks are worth watching after they shed Mikkel Boedker’s $4 million salary to clear cap space and watched as Ilya Kovalchuk signed with Los Angeles on a three-year, $18.75 million deal. After saying San Jose will spend much of its space to re-sign players, GM Doug Wilson acknowledged there will still be room to make a deal.By July 1? Wilson smirked and said: ”The fifth is my birthday. Ask me then.”Toronto’s James van Riemsdyk, Vegas’ James Neal and David Perron, Boston’s Rick Nash Youth Kevin Labanc Jersey , Columbus’ Thomas Vanek and New Jersey’s Patrick Maroon are among the wingers who are potentially available. Carlson staying with Washington leaves Detroit’s Mike Green, Dallas’ Dan Hamhuis and Columbus’ Ian Cole at the top of the list of defensemen.”There are some free agents out there that we like,” said Rangers GM Jeff Gorton, whose team shifted toward a rebuild this past season. ”We’re in a pretty good spot to talk to as many free agents that we can that we like and we’ll go forward that way.”Unlike New York, which had been in win-now mode for a while, the expansion Golden Knights were supposed to be building slowly toward becoming a perennial playoff contender. After reaching the Cup final in their first season, Vegas GM George McPhee doesn’t want to overpromise and under-deliver.”You just never know with these things and whether we’ll do anything at all or do something,” McPhee said. ”You’re sort of venturing into an area where there’s all kinds of things going on and you don’t know how it’s going to go. There’s no urgency for us to do anything. We like the team we have, we like the model we have. If we can make it better by doing something that makes sense, then we’ll do it.”The Capitals did not tender a qualifying offer to playoff star Devante Smith-Pelly, who will now become an attractive option to other teams as an unrestricted free agent. Washington said it’s still negotiating with Smith-Pelly, who scored seven goals in the postseason and would have had arbitration rights.—