OTTAWA—Phil Kessel insists the numbers don’t mean anything to him, the wins mean more.

But Kessel’s offensive numbers are helping the Maple Leafs win these important games down the stretch.

The sniper got his 30th goal Saturday night, the first goal of the Maple Leafs 4-2 win over Ottawa, a victory that moved Toronto to within three points of a playoff spot with three games to go.

“We got the win, that’s the most important thing, and hopefully keep it going here,” said Kessel. “You obviously always want more. I’ve had a lot of chances to score goals and they haven’t been going in that much.

“But we’re fighting for a playoff spot.”

Kessel is one of eight players to have scored 30 goals in each of the last three seasons. Another that joined the club was the revered Alex Ovechkin, whose 30th goal on Saturday night helped Washington beat Buffalo in overtime.

With one week to go in the Maple Leafs’ season, it will all be about scoreboard watching on Sunday. Montreal and Carolina won Saturday night and Buffalo picked up a point. The Leafs can’t catch the Habs, who have 91 points.

Eighth-place New York Rangers — who were idle Saturday — play Philadelphia on Sunday while Buffalo and Carolina duke it out.

“We’ve narrowed the gap on the Rangers, so we’ll see what happens,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson.

There is something to be said for the determination of the team, who have won six of their last seven. Who might have thought in the doldrums of December that the Leafs would be playing meaningful games in the last week of the season?

“It’s not by fluke we’re playing important games right now,” said goalie James Reimer. “It’s because of our determination and our ability. To a guy in here, we know we can win, we know we’re a good team and every night we have a real good chance to win.

“Right now, we just believe. That’s why things are going so well.”

Much can be made of Reimer — he was terrific when needed again on Saturday, notching his 20th win. But what’s increasingly remarkable is Toronto’s offence. At the beginning of the season, there wasn’t much hope for goal scoring other than from Kessel.

Now the offence is well spread. Nikolai Kulemin picked up his 29th — salting away the win with 1:20 to go. He and Grabovski are one goal away each from making the Leafs the only team in the NHL with three 30-goal scorers.

“I don’t think about that, it’s more important to win the game,” said Grabovski. “If I score, it’s good for my team.”

The marked upturn in offence can be traced to the addition of Joffrey Lupul on the Kessel-Tyler Bozak line. Lupul’s hard effort on the power play turned into the game-winner for Bozak. Bozak had missed a number of chances earlier, but Lupul’s shot grazed off him as he stood next to the crease, for the winner at 5:42.

“If he was here year round and he was healthy, he’s a potential 30-goal scorer, too,” Wilson said of Lupul. “We’ve got offence and we believe in ourselves. And we’re getting a lot of wins.”

Lupul has four goals and three assists in his last six games. Kessel is on a seven-game points streak. That line has come alive, taking the heat off the Grabovski threesome.

“He can score goals he can make plays,” Kessel said of Lupul.

At the same time, the Leafs are getting so-called secondary scoring. Rookie Nazem Kadri notched his third and seems to have fit in on the third line with Joey Crabb and Darryl Boyce.

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And the defencemen are chipping in. Dion Phaneuf continued to be a force in terms of driving the offence, although he was held off the scoreboard. Carl Gunnarsson picked up another assist — on Bozak’s winner — giving him points in three straight and a goal and five assists in seven games.

As a measure of how far the Leafs have come offensively, look to the formerly high-flying Senators. Jason Spezza scored twice to leads his team with 19 goals.

“We’ve had the goal scoring, not deep into our lineup, but we still find a way,” said Wilson. “We’ve got two lines that are very dangerous and playing very well right now. We’re getting occasionally some offence form the back end. That’s all you can ask for.”

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