As we near the end of 2025, many are still wondering what to make of the Toronto Maple Leafs. At times, they look competitive and a team that can get out of the basement. Other times, it’s a team with no identity or urgency as their play as of late suggests.
After an embarrassing loss to the Edmonton Oilers, they had a disappointing start where the fans let them know but found a way to come back and win 3-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks. Three months into this season, the Maple Leafs have had abysmal and flat-out embarrassing efforts where they have found a win to win. While a win is a win, their overall play and lack of consistency shouldn’t be overlooked. This team can’t keep doing this if they want to have success and move further up in the standings.
Maple Leafs’ Stars Answered Berube’s Call
We can go into detail on how the Maple Leafs haven’t met expectations this season, especially when it comes to the star players as of late.
After their loss to the Oilers, head coach Craig Berube called out his team, especially his leaders where they were dismantled by Connor McDavid and company. Per Sportsbet’s Luke Fox, Berube said, “Our leaders got to take control of it a lot more than they are right now.”
With 40 minutes of the same old song and dance against the Blackhawks and the head coach and captain already feeling the pressure, the Maple Leafs star players delivered and answered the call. The fire and intent that was missing from Auston Matthews’ game, who hasn’t performed well or been as consistent as he should, got everything going. He won the face-off and assisted on Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s goal and had a vintage snipe and release on the power play to tie the game. Matthews clearly hasn’t been himself but he finally came up clutch scoring the tying goal on the power play at a critical moment.
William Nylander assisted on both Matthews and Ekman-Larsson’s goals and at times looked to have more speed and pace on the top line. While the effort has waned at times, getting his footing back is a great thing to see. While there were some moments where you wanted more, particularly at the start of the game, they were better in driving play and getting into the offensive zone. You would like to see them get more time in that zone, but they did get results as the game went on. Especially in the third period.
Related: 4 Takeaways From Maple Leafs’ 3-2 Win Over Blackhawks
That mindset and urgency from Matthews, Nylander and even everyone else on the team needs to be consistent. They led the charge when they needed them to but that has to continue. With Mitch Marner gone, they’re going to need more from Matthews and Nylander and they’re capable of handling that and delivering as they’re productive players.
Maple Leafs Can’t Keep Playing This Way
Despite a comeback win, the Maple Leafs can’t keep playing this way as it’s not a recipe for success. Yes, they came from behind and won at a critical moment in their season. However, this is something that this team can’t afford to keep happening. Games like this can serve as a wake-up call, but this has happened quite often this season where these games should serve as turning points.
Even Dakota Joshua, who scored the game-winning goal, said that there were “self-inflicted wounds” in that game. He’s not wrong as the Maple Leafs have been their own worst enemy during a lot of stretches and points during a game.
You don’t need to look at the statistics and underlying numbers to know that the Maple Leafs are in the position that they’re in because of their mistakes. They have the 11th most goals against per game with 3.22, they’re ranked 30th power play percentage with 15%, have allowed the fifth most five-on-five goals against with 74 and are last in offensive zone time at 39.3%, per NHL EDGE. That’s just a few to list off but they really need to turn things around and not have these results continue.
They got their act together and the stars delivered at a key moment when they needed to, but that can’t waver from game to game. Too many times this season their sloppy play, defensive miscues and lack of effort are big reasons why they lost meaningful points and their latest one against the Blackhawks was another one that should still be added to the book even though they won. Berube can only say and do so much as the voice behind the bench as the onus is on the players. He preaches “mindset” and “urgency” whenever they have a disappointing effort but the fact that they have to be reminded constantly is a little concerning.
Related: Maple Leafs Circle Back on Trade for Top-4 D-Man [Report]
The Maple Leafs truly need to buckle down and have strong efforts for a full 60 minutes and not just show up for the final 10 minutes of a game. When they dial in, they can get the job done. They’ve shown it. Why it has to take some time for them to get going remains to be not only a concern but a mystery. Either that’s not something the Maple Leafs can afford to do as the points matter even more and a poor start could be the difference between a win or a loss.
Statistics from Natural Stat Trick and NHL EDGE.
