The Tampa Bay Lightning Have Just Made the Next Week That Much Harder for the Toronto Maple Leafs

Throughout most of the NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers have been the frontrunners for the Atlantic Division title.

However, the Tampa Bay Lightning are starting to improve following some massive changes at the trade deadline and it has made the Atlantic Division race that much tighter.

In fact, the Lightning defeated the New York Islanders last night which allowed them to catapult over the Panthers and take second place, one point behind Toronto.

This is a bit of a problem for the Leafs, who now have to maintain their play or risk being overtaken by the Lightning who are on a huge hot streak.

The Leafs take on the Florida Panthers tonight and then next week, play the Panthers again, as well as the Lightning on back-to-back nights.

All of these games are must-wins, otherwise, they risk being put out of the Atlantic Division race and they could even fall to third which would mean an eradication of their home ice in the first-round.

It seems like this could be another year in which an Atlantic Division team makes the Stanley Cup Finals, especially with a wide open conference.

Having said that, the Lightning are making things difficult on the Maple Leafs and this mad dash to the end of the season is going to be fascinating.

Only time will tell whether or not this Leafs team can clutch up and show the hockey world that they mean business heading into this year's playoffs.