The Leafs defeated the Lightning 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday at Amalie Arena in Tampa. The team is off on Thursday.

With the Leafs and Lightning locked in a tense overtime game, Matthew Knies pulled off a between-the-legs pass.

“I was just hopping on the ice, and I was having trouble believing what I was seeing in front of me,” said Auston Matthews.

“I'm not sure I'd recommend that play,” said coach Craig Berube with a big smile.

What was Toronto’s youngest player thinking?

"Honestly, I’m not too sure,” the 22-year-old said. “Just thought I’d try it. I saw that [Lightning centre Brayden Point] flipped his hips and the play was open. Not sure what I was thinking, but went to him and we had a good opportunity from it.”

Knies successfully got the puck to Morgan Rielly, who was denied by Andrei Vasilevskiy. But the Leafs defenceman collected the rebound and fed Matthews, who made a nice play around Point to set up Knies for a tap-in goal.

Knies, who had criticized his team’s effort as “a little bit soft” the previous night in Florida, completed a hat trick to help the Leafs extend their lead atop the division to three points on the Lightning with only four games left in the regular season.

“It feels incredible,” Knies said. “Just getting this win against a rival team, it’s a good feeling in that locker room. We had a great effort all around.”

Nick Robertson passed the team’s player-of-the-game belt to Knies inside a jubilant dressing room.

“It’s gotta go to Kniesy,” Robertson said with a smile. “This guy’s a dog!”

Knies is experiencing a sophomore surge this season with 29 goals and 55 points. Every game, the 6-foot-3, 227 pounder seems to be getting more dominant.

“Didn't he try to do the Michigan the other night? I mean, he's got confidence right now,” said Berube. “He's playing with a lot of confidence, which is good. The reason for his success is his competitiveness, in my opinion. It's really, really high end. Like, he wins battles. He skates through people all night, gets in there on the forecheck, wins battles down low, hangs onto the pucks. I mean, he's a highly competitive player.”

Knies showed that competitiveness on his second goal. He won a battle with Lightning defenceman Victor Hedman in front of the net on the power play to recover a rebound off a

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