It is the normal practice of teams coming back from a long road trip to put up a stinker in their first home game back, and the Toronto Maple Leafs followed that script, but still managed a point in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The game featured an excellent 33-save performance from Dennis Hildeby, and a Scott Laughton short-handed goal that tied the game, but the Leafs fell short in the shootout, as Cole Caufield and Alexander Texier beat “The Beast” to earn the extra point.
The areas of concern coming out of the game are the Toronto power play, which seemed disorganized and went 0 for 3, and their inability to generate scoring chances and when they did, getting pucks on the net instead of shooting it wide of Habs goalie Jakub Dobes. The point earned by the Leafs has them at 30 (13-11-4), three points behind the third place Canadiens, and four points behind the two Eastern Conference wildcard spots, the Boston Bruins and Monday’s opponent, the Tampa Bay Lightning, for the top two spots in the Atlantic.
The Lightning come to Toronto losers of three straight and with a severely diminished lineup. In their 2-0 loss to the Islanders on Saturday, Tampa Bay did not have Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov, Eric Cernak, Ryan McDonagh, and Andrei Vasilevskiy in the lineup. Victor Hedman returned to the lineup on Saturday but played less than 17 minutes, and the status of both Kucherov and Vasilevskiy is uncertain. The Lightning play in Toronto and Montreal on consecutive nights, so it is possible that the Leafs get backup Jonas Johansson at Scotiabank Arena.
On the Leafs front, their schedule (Tampa on Monday, San Jose on Thursday, Edmonton on Saturday, and Chicago next Tuesday) and no travel may allow them to use Dennis Hildeby in all four games, but the club will need Joseph Woll to return before Christmas, with four games in six nights before and after the holiday break, or we will get our first look at Artur Akhtyamov against NHL competition.
What is becoming apparent is that we will not see Anthony Stolarz any time soon. The big netminder has not been seen since suffering an upper-body injury that at the time was described as “day-to-day” by head coach Craig Berube, but nearly a month later, Stolarz is apparently in witness protection somewhere, and Berube indicated on Sunday that he does not have a timetable on his return.
“He’s still not on the ice, so I’m not sure yet where he’s at.” Berube said.
The lack of information or specifics that the Leafs have provided, as to what exactly the nature of the injury is or how long they can expect Stolarz to be out, has undoubtedly contributed to the mystery, but the fact that there has been no word about him in almost a month when the goaltending situation is at a critical stage, just reinforces the opinion of many that the 31-year-old cannot be depended on to be anything more than a tandem goalie or a backup going forward.
On Monday, another Leafs defensive prospect entered the World Junior fold with their country after blueliner Victor Johansson was named to Sweden’s club for the upcoming WJC in Minnesota later this month. Ben Danford, the Leafs 2024 first rounder was named to the camp roster by Hockey Canada. The 19-year-old defenseman has 15 points (1 goal, 14 assists) with Oshawa and Brantford in 22 games this season and is expected to make the club as a shutdown defender.
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (13-11-4 – 30 POINTS)
vs.
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (16-10-2 – 34 POINTS)
DECEMBER 8, 2025 ▪ 7:30 PM EST ▪ SCOTIABANK ARENA (TORONTO, ON)
TV: PRIME VIDEO ▪ RADIO: TSN 1050
MAPLE LEAFS HISTORY vs. TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
| All-Time Record: | 66-39-2-8 (115 Games) |
| All-Time Home Record: | 34-20-1-3 (58 Games) |
| 2024-25: | 4-0-0 |
| Last Five: | 4-1-0 |
| Last 10: | 8-2-0 |
| First Matchup Between Clubs: | October 15, 1992 (Toronto 5 vs. Tampa Bay 3) |
| All-Time Record: | 66-39-2-8 (115 Games) |
| All-Time Home Record: | 34-20-1-3 (58 Games) |
| All-Time Road Record: | 32-19-1-5 (57 Games) |
| Last Home Win vs. Opponent: | January 20, 2025 (Toronto 5 vs. Tampa Bay 3) |
MAPLE LEAFS / LIGHTNING – 2025-26 TEAM STATS
| TORONTO | TAMPA BAY | |
| Goals For Per Game: | 3.39 (5th) | 3.14 (10th) |
| Goals Against Per Game: | 3.29 (23rd-T) | 2.61 (5th-T) |
| Power Play %: | 14.1 (30th) | 15.9 (24th-T) |
| Penalty Kill %: | 81.5 (12th) | 86.7 (3rd) |
| Shots For Per Game: | 27.1 (20th) | 27.4 (18th) |
| Shots Against Per Game: | 31.4 (30th-T) | 27.2 (12th) |
| Faceoff %: | 57.1 (1st) | 46.1 (30th) |
| (NHL rank in parenthesis) | ||
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