Maple Leafs Catch Huge Break as Lightning Lose Star Forward Ahead of Key Matchup

With the Maple Leafs needing to win against the Tampa Bay Lightning to pretty much secure first place and home-ice advantage in the playoffs, they are going to need a complete effort from everyone involved.

But they could also use a bit of luck from the hockey gods, and they may have been praying just a bit harder on Wednesday night.

It was announced that Tampa Bay will be without the services of star forward Jake Guentzel, who was ruled out of the crucial divisional matchup with the Maple Leafs.

It's a huge break for a team who had a lifeless effort against the Panthers on Tuesday and desperately need to set the tone early, and should pounce on a heavily weakened Lightning team.

If Guentzel is out, that means everyone on Toronto needs to lock in. From the top line to the bottom line, regardless of how many changes Craig Berube made; they need to be on their toes at all times.

Tampa Bay can either come out with a vengeance and try and play at double the pace in order to cover for Guentzel's absence, or the team may be feeling the sting of losing him, and with such a critical game at hand, Toronto might be able to capitalize on their emotions.

Whatever happens though, Toronto needs to win this game first and foremost. There is no disadvantage to winning the division and gaining that home-ice advantage is crucial to having some potential modicum of success and moving on past the first round.

But Toronto is also dealing with some key injuries of their own, and if those aren't figured out sooner rather than later then the team is going to be in for a world of hurt.

If Jake McCabe, and to a lesser extent David Kampf can return before the playoffs and get comfortable, it will mean the difference between a series win or loss.

But the one thing the team has t focus on isn't the injuries, isn't the potential opponent in the first round, or even about if Mitch Marner is sticking around.

They just need to win against Tampa Bay; the first domino to fall in a Stanley Cup victory.