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Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz will get the start Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, head coach Craig Berube confirmed. . . .

Toronto held an optional morning skate Saturday, with Jani Hakanpaa, Simon Benoit, Philippe Myers Steven Lorentz, Pontus Holmberg, Nick Robertson, Max Pacioretty, Max Domi, Scott Laughton, Bobby McMann, Joseph Woll and Stolarz among the participants. It was a true optional skate, with Myers getting shots up on Stolarz, while the forwards worked on routine shooting drills. source

Projected Lineup:

Matthew Knies -- Auston Matthews -- Mitch Marner
Bobby McMann -- John Tavares -- William Nylander
Scott Laughton -- Max Domi -- Calle Jarnkrok
Steven Lorentz -- Pontus Holmberg -- Nicholas Robertson

Morgan Rielly -- Brandon Carlo
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit -- Philippe Myers

Anthony Stolarz
Joseph Woll

Scratched: None

Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (lower body), Max Pacioretty (tightness), Jake McCabe (undisclosed), David Kampf (upper body)

Status report: Van Riemsdyk will replace Kunin, a forward, after being a healthy scratch the past four games. ... McCabe, a defenseman, and Kampf, a forward, each is day to day after being injured during a 3-2 win against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday; Myers will replace McCabe after being a healthy scratch the past 11 games and Robertson will replace Kampf after being a healthy scratch the past three games.

A goal-scoring binge has landed John Tavares league-wide recognition.

The Toronto Maple Leafs centre was named second star of the month on Tuesday, behind the Vegas Golden Knights' Jack Eichel and ahead of St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington.

Tavares found the back of the net a league-leading 13 times in March — the most by a player in any calendar month this season.

The scoring run was highlighted by a five-game streak that ended on Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks.

In the biggest game of the regular season (so far), the Maple Leafs enter this four-point matchup against the Panthers with a two-point lead in the Atlantic Division race (7:30 p.m. EST, Sportsnet).

There is one more matchup between these two teams to come, but being four points ahead with seven games to go is a major difference compared to being tied on points with seven to play. To accomplish that four-point cushion, the Leafs will need to beat the Panthers in regulation, something they’ve done just once in the last six meetings. With the Panthers at the end of a three-in-four (second half of a back-to-back) and without some key pieces due to injury/suspension, this is a golden opportunity for the fully-healthy and rested Leafs, one they really need to take advantage of. source

Projected Lineup:

Matthew Knies -- Auston Matthews -- Mitch Marner
Bobby McMann -- John Tavares -- William Nylander
Scott Laughton -- Max Domi -- Calle Jarnkrok
Pontus Holmberg -- David Kampf -- Steven Lorentz

Morgan Rielly -- Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe -- Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Anthony Stolarz
Joseph Woll

Scratched: Nicholas Robertson, Philippe Myers

Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (lower body), Max Pacioretty (tightness)

Status report: The Panthers did not hold a morning skate after a 3-2 overtime loss at the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. ... Sturm is day to day after he left that game in the first period following a collision with linemate A.J. Greer. Coach Paul Maurice said after the game, "We'll get him looked at again (Wednesday). He didn't feel he could come back, so we'll get him assessed (Wednesday)." Nosek replaced him in the lineup ... Megna was recalled from Charlotte of the American Hockey League. ... The Maple Leafs will use the same 18 skaters for the third straight game.

The incoming German chancellor, more convinced than ever that the defense and trade relationship with Washington is crumbling, has made plans to execute on his goal of “independence from the U.S.A.”

He’s not the only one.

The new Canadian prime minister said last week that “the old relationship we had with the United States” — the tightest of military and economic partnerships — is now “over.” Poland’s president is musing publicly about getting nuclear weapons. And the new leader of Greenland, host to American air bases since World War II, reacted to the uninvited visit of a high-level American delegation with indignation.

. . .

These are the results so far of President Trump’s threats to abandon NATO allies whose contributions he judges insufficient, his declaration that the European Union was designed “to screw” the United States and his efforts to expand the United States’ land mass. The main reaction is resistance all around. Now, into this maelstrom of threats, alienation and recriminations, President Trump is expected to announce his “Liberation Day” tariffs on Wednesday.

. . .

Mr. Trump is already showing signs of concern that his targets may team up against him.

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Dozens gathered at Brennan Park in Squamish Sunday to bid farwell to the beloved goose

A Canada goose named Wilson — who spent months with an arrow lodged in his rump — is finally flying free.

The bird was released Sunday at Squamish's Brennan Park field, where dozens had gathered to cheer him on to freedom.

As the cage door opened and Wilson took a few tentative steps, he turned toward a nearby flock of geese and took flight, marking the end of a months-long rescue effort that brought together a local photographer, veterinarians, wildlife rescuers, and an entire community.

Leafs had a real win-win today outside of this game:

The Toronto Maple Leafs . . . are on the cusp of clinching spots in the post-season, however, fate isn't entirely in their hands just yet.

Here's how they could get the job done Sunday:

• Maple Leafs: If they defeat the Anaheim Ducks in any fashion AND the Montreal Canadiens lose to the Florida Panthers in any fashion. source

Montreal won today so no clinching a spot. But the Panthers lost, so there's a chance to get 3 point separation from Tampa and Florida in the Atlantic

Projected Lineup:

Matthew Knies — Auston Matthews — Mitch Marner
Bobby McMann — John Tavares — William Nylander
Pontus Holmberg — Max Domi — Scott Laughton
Steven Lorentz — David Kampf — Calle Jarnkrok

Morgan Rielly — Brandon Carlo
Jake McCabe — Chris Tanev
Simon Benoit — Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Joseph Woll
Anthony Stolarz

Scratched: Philippe Myers, Nicholas Robertson

Injured: Jani Hakanpaa (lower body), Max Pacioretty (tightness)

Status report: Neither team will hold a morning skate.

On a spring morning two months after Vladimir Putin’s invading armies marched into Ukraine, a convoy of unmarked cars slid up to a Kyiv street corner and collected two middle-aged men in civilian clothes.

Leaving the city, the convoy — manned by British commandos, out of uniform but heavily armed — traveled 400 miles west to the Polish border. The crossing was seamless, on diplomatic passports. Farther on, they came to the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, where an idling C-130 cargo plane waited.

The passengers were top Ukrainian generals. Their destination was Clay Kaserne, the headquarters of U.S. Army Europe and Africa in Wiesbaden, Germany. Their mission was to help forge what would become one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war in Ukraine.

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Keir Starmer should fight back strongly against Donald Trump if he imposes punitive tariffs on British exports, senior UK and EU diplomats said on Saturday night, amid heightened fears that the US president could trigger a global trade war with devastating effects on the UK economy.

British government officials in London and Washington are working frantically this weekend to try to persuade Trump not to slap duties on more key UK industries on what he is calling “liberation day” on Wednesday. The US president has already announced plans for 25% levies on imports of cars, steel and aluminium to the US.

. . .

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned last week that a 20% increase in tariffs between the US and the rest of the world would cut UK growth by 1% and “entirely eliminate” the £9.9bn of fiscal headroom that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, restored in the public finances by a painful programme of welfare and other cuts in her spring statement last week.

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What explains John Tavares’ goal-scoring bonanza this season?

On the one hand, it’s pretty simple: A world-class shooter is having the best shooting season of his NHL career — and in a contract year, no less.

Tavares has scored 33 goals on 19 percent shooting.

The timing is curious, and not only because Tavares is 34 now and in his 16th NHL season — a time, in other words, when he should be slowing down. It’s also odd because last season Tavares had the worst shooting season of his career: 29 goals in 80 games on 10 percent shooting and a mid-season dry spell that saw him score once in 13 games.

From one extreme to the other, then. But that doesn’t feel like the whole story.

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