The Leafs hope Auston Matthews gets the chance to celebrate a milestone moment at home on Wednesday night. The superstar centre is just one goal away from 50 as Toronto makes its only trip to the desert this season. Mark Masters has more on his chase ahead of puck drop.
The state of Florida is no stranger to hosting games of this magnitude as well as other major NHL events. Over the last 30 years, when Florida s two franchises entered the NHL in consecutive seasons (Tampa Bay in 1992-93 & Florida in 1993-94), the state has hosted four NHL All-Star Games (TBL: 1998-99 & 2017-18; FLA: 2002-03 & 2022-23), the NHL Draft twice (FLA: 2001 & 2015) and 15 Stanley Cup Final games. After Games 3 and 4 are completed, Florida will be tied for the most Final games hosted in one state or province over the past 30 years.
Matthew Tkachuk played overtime hero for the second straight game, tying the record for most overtime winners in a postseason and helping Florida become the sixth lower-seeded team in the past 15 years to take a 2-0 lead in the Conference Finals.
The Golden Knights earned their seventh comeback win of the postseason and tied their franchise record (7 in 2021). As of now, 78% of all of Vegas victories have come after overcoming a deficit (7/9).