In a game between two teams destined to miss the playoffs that seemed like neither team wanted to win, the Toronto Maple Leafs prevailed over the Vancouver Canucks to snap their six-game losing streak with a 3-2 shootout win.
The game was straight-up comedic, particularly the overtime frame between the two teams. The Maple Leafs gave the Canucks at least three high-danger chances and the Canucks simply refused to convert on them. The Leafs failed to convert on the chances they did have, including a whiff on a wide open net by John Tavares and a failed penalty shot attempt by a clearly gassed Auston Matthews, who opted for a backhand-forehand attempt and shoved it directly into the right pad of Canucks goaltender Nikita Tolopilo.
The game eventually went to a shootout where the Leafs ended it within the first four shots. Vancouver’s Jake DeBrusk banked the puck off of both posts and out to kick things off, William Nylander undressed Tolopilo on the Maple Leafs’ first shot, Elias Pettersson was stopped by Joseph Woll on his attempt and Matthews made good on his penalty shot miss to win the game for the Maple Leafs. Toronto got goals from Nicolas Roy and Max Domi in regulation, the latter of whom has been a lone bright spot for the Maple Leafs lately with three goals and four assists for seven points in his last five games.
The win will surely give the dressing room a morale boost, but ‘too little too late’ seems like the understatement of the century for a team whose playoff odds fell to 2.6% following their latest loss against the Seattle Kraken. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman indicated during second intermission’s ‘Saturday Headlines’ segment, that the Leafs have begun the process as a deadline seller, so these two points will serve as a moral victory and not much else for the Maple Leafs of 2025-26.
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