Maple Leafs beat the Panthers 3-2 in an Atlantic Division showdown

TORONTO (AP) — Mitch Marner scored the goal-ahead goal midway through the third period, Anthony Stolarz made 29 saves and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 in an Atlantic Division showdown Wednesday night.

John Tavares and Matthew Knies also scored to help division-leading Toronto wrap up a playoff spot and and move three points ahead of Tampa Bay and four in front of Florida. Marner and Knies also had assists.

Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist for defending Stanley Cip champion Florida. Gustav Forsling also scored, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 23 shots.

Panthers: Florida was without captain Aleksander Barkov (upper-body injury) after he was hurt Tuesday night in a 3-2 overtime loss in Montreal. The club also continues to play without star forward Matthew Tkachuk (lower-body injury) and defenseman Aaron Ekblad, (20-game suspension).

Maple Leafs: Tavares has 15 goals in 20 games since the 4 Nations Face-Off to lead the NHL. The 34-year-old pending unrestricted free agent has 36 goals in in 68 games this season.

Marner made it 2-1 with 9:10 left after Bobrovsky, who stopped Bobby McMann on a breakaway moments earlier, couldn’t squeeze the initial shot off the stick of Auston Matthews.

Matthews needs one goal to become the fifth player in franchise history with at least 30 in their first season as captain. He would join Rick Vaive (54), Darryl Sittler (41), Mats Sundin (33) and Dave Keon (32).

Both teams play Saturday night. The Panthers are at Ottawa. The Maple Leafs host Columbus.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Toronto Maple Leafs' Matthew Knies (23) tries to tip a puck in front of Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) as Gustav Forsling (42) defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews (34) protects the puck from Florida Panthers' Jesper Boqvist (70) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Morgan Rielly (44) and Brandon Carlo (25) collide with Florida Panthers' Sam Bennett (9) and Carter Verhaeghe (23) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto, Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) makes a save on Florida Panthers' A.J. Greer (10) as Maple Leafs' Jake McCabe (22) defends during third period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) makes a save as Toronto Maple Leafs' Scott Laughton (24) looks for the rebound during second period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (right) makes a save as Toronto Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner (16) battles with Panthers' Nate Schmidt (88) during third period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner (16) and goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) celebrate after defeating the Florida Panthers in NHL hockey action in Toronto on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner (16) celebrates his goal against the Florida Panthers during third period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) watches the play as Florida Panthers' Carter Verhaeghe (23) battles with Maple Leafs' John Tavares (91) during third period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs' Simon Benoit (2) and goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) celebrate after defeating the Florida Panthers in NHL hockey action in Toronto on Wednesday, April 2, 2025. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks on Thursday are giving back some of their historic gains from the day before as Wall Street weighs a global trade war that has cooled in temperature but is still threatening the economy.

The S&P 500 was down 2.3%, a day after surging 9.5% following President Donald Trump’s decision to pause many of his tariffs worldwide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 700 points, or 1.7%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.7% lower.

Even a better-than-expected report on inflation Thursday morning wasn’t enough to get U.S. stocks to add to their surges from the day before, including the S&P 500’s third-best since 1940. Economists said the data wasn’t useful because it offered a view only of the past, when inflation may rise in coming months because of tariffs. A better-than-expected report on joblessness didn’t help much either, with Wall Street’s focus entirely on what’s to come.

“Trump blinks,” UBS strategist Bhanu Baweja said about the president’s decision on tariffs, “but the damage isn’t all undone.”

Trump has focused more on China, raising his tariffs on products coming from the world’s second-largest economy to 125%. Even if that were to get negotiated down to something like 50%, and even if only 10% tariffs remained on other countries, Baweja said the hit to the U.S. economy could still be large enough to hurt expected growth for upcoming U.S. corporate profits.

China, meanwhile, has been reaching out to other countries around the world in hopes of forming a united front against Trump. The European Union, though, on Thursday said it will put its trade retaliation measures on hold for 90 days and leave room for a negotiated solution.

Trump and his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, sent a clear message to other countries Wednesday after announcing their tariff pause: “Do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded.”

That has many on Wall Street prepared for still more wild swings to come in the market, after the S&P 500 at one point nearly dropped into a “bear market” by almost closing 20% below its record. Often, the whipsaw moves had come not just day to day but also hour to hour. The S&P 500 still remains below where it was when Trump announced his sweeping set of tariffs last week on “Liberation Day.”

“Everything is still very volatile, because with Donald Trump, you don’t know what to expect,” said Francis Lun, chief executive of Geo Securities. “This is really big uncertainty in the market. The threat of recession has not faded.”

One encouraging signal, though, is coming from the bond market where stress seems to be easing a bit.

Big jumps for Treasury yields earlier this week had rattled the market, so much that Trump said Wednesday he had been watching how investors were “getting a little queasy.”

Several reasons could have been behind the sharp, sudden rise, including hedge funds having to sell their Treasurys in order to raise cash or investors outside the United States dumping their U.S. investments because of the trade war. Regardless of the reasons behind it, higher yields on Treasurys crank up pressure on the stock market and push rates higher for mortgages and other loans for U.S. households and businesses.

But the 10-year Treasury yield has calmed over the last day and was sitting at 4.31%. That’s after it had shot up to nearly 4.50% Wednesday morning from just 4.01% at the end of last week.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rallied across Europe and Asia in their first chances to trade following Trump’s pause. Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 9.1%, South Korea’s Kospi leaped 6.6% and Germany’s DAX returned 5.6%.

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.

People walk by the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday morning, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

People walk by an electronic board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

A person walks past an electronic stock board at a securities firm in Tokyo Thursday, April 10, 2025. (Kyodo News via AP)

A currency trader walks by the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader watches computer monitors at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader walks by the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), left, the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader prepares to work near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A currency trader watches computer monitors near the screen showing the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a foreign exchange dealing room in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, April 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

President Donald Trump is displayed on a television on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

A traders works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, April 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)