The Toronto Maple Leafs (27-21-9) beat the Edmonton Oilers (28-21-8)5-2 on Tuesday night, and head into the Olympic break on a three-game winning streak. It wasn’t pretty, but they got the job done and now sit just five points out of the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Matias Maccelli, Matthew Knies, John Tavares, and Bobby McMann scored for the Maple Leafs, while Anthony Stolarz had by far his best game of the season, making 34 saves in his first win since Nov. 5.
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Jake Walman and Kasperi Kapanen scored for the Oilers, and Connor Ingram, who was brilliant in his own right, made 23 saves. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were held to no points and a combined eight shots.
That was the most fun I’ve had watching a Maple Leafs game this season. Temperatures were high, goaltending was spectacular, and the two teams battled for every inch of ice. Here are four takeaways from last night’s contest.
Anthony Stolarz Comes Up Big
Coming off an abysmal homestand (0-4-1), all the chatter has been about who the Maple Leafs should sell and when. Pretty much all hope of making the playoffs has been lost. However, the roster still believes they can get there, and performances like last night show that the will is there, deep down inside of them. Somewhere.
We can’t say enough about Stolarz. The 32-year-old netminder was terrific, and he had to be. There were large stretches when his teammates could not get the puck out of the defensive zone to save their lives, and Stolarz was there almost every time.
Two moments, in particular, stood out. First, was Stolarz giving Andrew Mangiapane the business after the Oilers winger snowed him after the whistle with a few minutes remaining in the first period. That led to Oliver Ekman-Larsson defending his goalie, and that intensity and bite lasted the rest of the night. The second was his outrageous cross-crease save on Leon Draisaitl with five minutes left in the game to keep the two-goal lead intact.
Here are some numbers to show how different this performance was from what we have seen recently: 9.72, 9.00, 5.14, and 4.10. Those are Stolarz’s goals-against averages (GAA) from his last four starts. The first two came against the Boston Bruins in early November, and the final two were against the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken when he returned from injury.
It’s been a rough season for Stolarz, and I was advocating for the Maple Leafs to move him and keep Dennis Hildeby as management looks to the future. But last night’s brilliance is what we came to love and expect last season. If Toronto is going to make a miraculous push for the postseason, they’re going to need a lot more performances like that.
We’re Not Used to Seeing The Maple Leafs Angry
Following the win against the Calgary Flames on Monday, I mentioned that even though a two-game winning streak is nice, Toronto had to scratch and claw to beat two teams well below them in the standings. It’s nice to see a win, but it’s not all that inspiring.
Last night was not flawless. The Maple Leafs looked outmatched for most of the game. Passes were off target, or they couldn’t exit their own zone, or they couldn’t enter the offensive zone? How many times did they turn the puck over just for Stolarz to save their skin? The Oilers are the better team, even if they have a few problems of their own right now, but what Toronto lacked last night, they made up for with aggression and tenacity. It was a beautiful thing to see.
It all started with Ekman-Larsson and the rest of the team supporting Stolarz. It’s very “Maple Leafs” for a player to be embarrassed or hurt and not have anyone stand up for their teammate. Coming to their goalie’s defence pushed the Maple Leafs to play with an edge, passion, and aggression that we have not seen in a decade.
There was also the Mattias Janmark penalty for high-sticking Auston Matthews that gave the Maple Leafs a 5-on-3. We can argue whether or not Matthews should have received an interference penalty there, but that penalty happened because Matthews refused to give up on the play. There was a “team” element to Tuesday night’s game that felt different. Where was that three months ago, eh?
Maple Leafs Power Play Makes the Difference
Before the third period, the Maple Leafs hadn’t scored a power-play goal since the end of January, and it had nothing to do with the power play itself. Those two opportunities were their first in nine periods. The minute Janmark gave Toronto a 5-on-3, they took advantage.
Janmark’s penalty was at 6:44 of the third. At 7:42, John Tavares scored his 20th of the season to make it 3-2, and 31 seconds later, Maccelli scored his second of the night and 10th of the season to make it 4-2. Until then, it seemed the game was destined for overtime, or one the Oilers would win in the dying minutes. That was the break the Maple Leafs needed, and they capitalized almost immediately.
What to Do With Ekman-Larsson
Amidst all of the team’s losses in the last couple of weeks, trade deadline rumours have been rampant. From Bobby McMann to Scott Laughton to Matias Maccelli. I don’t disagree with moving any of them. As much as I like Laughton in the face-off circle and on the penalty kill, it makes sense to move him, but it also makes sense to keep him.
Ekman-Larsson, on the other hand, would give the Maple Leafs by far the biggest return in a trade, especially given his solid campaign. However, of all of the names that have been thrown around, he’s the one I would hate to see moved.
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Yes, he’s having an offensive resurgence of sorts. His 34 points put him on pace to score the most points of his career since the Phoenix and Arizona Coyotes existed. But more than that, he has a bite and grit to his game that the Maple Leafs don’t really have. Trade him, and that will go too.
Maple Leafs Settle Into a Much-Needed Break
The Maple Leafs will now take a glorious three (ish) week break due to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano and Cortina, and won’t be back until Feb. 25 when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning in Florida. Toronto has only three players heading to Italy, which means the rest of the group will have plenty of time to rest before what promises to be a dramatic finish to the season.
