TORONTO — One of our greatest pet peeves in sports discourse is the jump to label any important game a “must win.” Especially when the end of the regular season lies nearly three months down the road.
And yet, for these skidding, slumping Toronto Maple Leafs, a January tilt against the sports franchise with the second-longest active playoff drought (we see you, New York Jets) feels unusually critical.
A four-point swing the wrong way against the smokin’-hot Buffalo Sabres, and the Maple Leafs will fall eight points back of third place in the Atlantic Division (and the Sabres have a game in hand). They are at risk of extending their losing skid to five, going 0-fer on their homestand, and hitting the road with yet another punch to the confidence.
Tumble too far this week, and it could force GM Brad Treliving to rethink his trade deadline.
“We want to win. That’s it. There’s no other … just, we want to win,” Leafs defenceman Simon Benoit asserted Tuesday morning. “We have to win.”
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Dare we say it: They must.
Unlike Friday’s Marner Bowl, which was downplayed in the home room, no Leaf is trying to pass this tilt off as just another game.
“A big one. We know the magnitude of it,” said Leafs forward Bobby McMann, who compares this season to last.
“It definitely is different. I feel like last year we were kinda feeling good all the way through the season. This year, we’re fighting a little bit more.
“But sometimes that’s good, because then you find a way to battle and really hone in the parts of your game that you need to be better at come playoff time. So, we’re taking it as more of a challenge and something that’s going to grow our game to be ready for the end of the year.”
Young and skilled, the Sabres are performing at a level unseen this deep into winter in a decade. As a result, they have some say in the Maple Leafs even making it to playoff time.
“Seems like they’ve been figuring out their stuff,” Benoit said.
The Sabres have won three straight and 18 of their past 22. Their plus-17 goal differential dwarfs Toronto’s minus-six. They’re deadly off the rush, and their team save percentage ranks top-eight.
“We’re going to have our hands full here tonight,” Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly said. “There’s really no reason for us not to be playing our best.”
To drill that message home, coach Craig Berube met Monday with Toronto’s leadership group. His captains and veterans are battling “a mental grind,” Berube said, trying to dig out of first-period deficits multiple times last week.
“But we got to overcome it,” Berube said. “We gotta fight through it. We gotta do a better job in first periods of limiting mistakes and playing a more simple game, and being a little more patient in our game.”
Captain Auston Matthews’s solution?
“Everybody just has to be better,” the 28-year-old said. “When it’s hard and you’re going through adversity, it’s bringing everybody up and pushing yourself to be better.”
On fire coming out of the Christmas break, Matthews hasn’t splashed the scoresheet in three games, and leading scorer William Nylander won’t be available until the Leafs’ upcoming road trip.
“I know that I’m getting the opportunities and that one’s going to go in eventually. It’s tough when it’s not going in. It’s tough when you’re going through adversity, and you can’t compound that with being negative or compound that with trying to do too much,” Matthews said.
“It’s just about getting back on the horse and just keep riding, keep working, and pulling yourself out of the hole.”
Woll gets the net
Joseph Woll (0-2-2) has lost his past four starts and has surrendered 19 goals over his past five.
But there was little debate that he would get the nod over a rusty Anthony Stolarz for this one.
“Well, I really like the way he played last game” versus Colorado on Sunday, Berube said. “He’s played pretty well since he’s been back and given us an opportunity most nights to win hockey games.”
On Friday versus Vegas, Stolarz gave up five in his first game since Nov. 11, and critics wondered if he should’ve warmed up with a game or two with the AHL Marlies before getting thrown into the fire.
“I felt I was ready to go,” Stolarz told reporters. “I did this last year with the knee injury and just coming back and jumping right in the NHL. I’ve done it numerous times.”
Stolarz didn’t miss a beat in 2024-25, winning four straight games upon his return from knee surgery.
“The best way to get back into it is to play in the NHL,” he said. “You have to go and play against the best players in the world and try to get back up to speed. Obviously, the American League is not the NHL. I just felt that getting back into it here and being in a competitive environment with the boys would be the best thing for me.”
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (.905) will start for the Sabres.
Nylander targets return as wallet takes a hit
The NHL slapped Nylander with a $5,000 fine for flipping a broadcast camera the bird from the press box Sunday afternoon.
“This serves as a reminder the code of conduct governing players extends throughout the arena at NHL games and in public game situations,” NHL player safety czar George Parros said in a statement.
The Maple Leafs rarely make injured players available to media, but they made an exception for Nylander (groin) Monday so he could publicly apologize for an action he said was directed at no one in particular and was made “out of frustration” over not playing.
“I’m not really sure what he was doing,” said teammate Matthew Knies. “He was smiling after. I don’t think he meant it in a threatening way at all and obviously apologized right after.”
Nylander was alerted to his mistake via text message.
“I was like, ‘Oh, not a good idea. Not a good thing to do,’” Nylander said. “Like I said, I apologize about that.”
The organization sees no reason to dwell on what happened.
Berube chalked the gesture up to everyone makes mistakes, and they move on. Perhaps with a tad more caution.
“I didn’t really think that it would get much traction,” Knies said. “It definitely shows you how much publicity we get being on the Maple Leafs, so you just have to be careful.”
Set to miss his 16th game of the season after aggravating his groin in Las Vegas, Nylander is targeting a return on the road later this week.
“I thought I was done dealing with it,” he said, “but sometimes that happens and now maybe making sure it’s 100 per cent.”
Maple Leafs’ projected lineup Tuesday vs. Buffalo Sabres:
McMann – Matthews – Domi
Maccelli – Tavares – Knies
Cowan – Roy – Robertson
Lorentz – Laughton – Järnkrok
McCabe – Ekman-Larsson
Rielly – Carlo
Benoit – Stecher
Woll starts
Stolarz
