It seemed like the Toronto Maple Leafs were about to hit rock bottom when the team announced an hour before their game against the St. Louis Blues that forward Matthew Knies would be out of the lineup with a lower-body injury. The team had lost five games in a row and had an injury list that was growing by the second, with seven players and most if not all of them in key roles on the shelf, but as it typically goes in Toronto, the Leafs came out and played a solid game, winning in overtime to snap the losing streak at five games.
Head coach Craig Berube said that Knies, 23, had been battling something and that he wasn’t sure about his status at morning skate.
“This morning, I wasn’t sure if he was going to be ready to play, so I told Sammy [Blais] to be on standby,” Berube told reporters after the Maple Leafs’ 3-2 win. “He [Knies] came in tonight and couldn’t go…he’s had a lingering issue for a while and it got worse today.”
Despite being down Knies, Auston Matthews, and five other players, the Maple Leafs managed to take a step in the right direction with a win over the Blues. The eventual game-winning play in overtime was started by John Tavares, who pinned the puck against the boards and drew all three Blues players over to him. The distraction allowed him to kick the puck free to Morgan Rielly, who set up William Nylander for what could be a goal of the year candidate.
“WHAT A PLAY! HOLY MACKINAW!”
NYLANDER OT WINNER vs Blues
🔊 @Bonsie1951 @Jim_Ralph pic.twitter.com/62SOmp4rnM
— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) November 19, 2025
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Berube, who has long been an appreciator of hard work along the boards and players doing the little things to create plays, unsurprisingly raved about Tavares’ effort on that goal following the game.
“I mentioned it to the team because that’s what he’s all about,” Berube told reporters. “That play there symbolizes John Tavares. 3-on-1, keeps the puck alive, Morgan gets in there quickly and makes a play, and Willy does what he does.”
The Leafs likely slept well on Tuesday night knowing their losing streak was over, but they’re going to need a lot more than one win to get back to a place they’re used to being at. That said, Berube talked about his team’s ability to overcome the injury bug and take the two points with hard work.
“It’s always nice to end the skid,” Berube said. “But when I look at the team and everything going on with injuries and everything, it could have been easy for our guys to be like ‘well, we’re all banged up, we got nobody’ but I didn’t get that at all tonight. And our guys competed really hard tonight. I’m proud of the way they competed and stuck together out there for the game.”
The Maple Leafs will be back in action on Thursday when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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