“Found a way to get a point. Definitely didn’t have our best stuff.”
Scott Laughton not only had the Toronto Maple Leafs only goal on Saturday night in what turned into a 2-1 shootout loss, but he also offered the best summation of how things went afterwards. This certainly wasn’t the prettiest game for Toronto, which was outplayed badly by the Montreal Canadiens in the second period in particular, conceding a pile of chances and Cole Caufield’s power-play goal.
There were positives here, too, however, even as the Leafs’ three-game win streak came to an end. The fact they now have points in five of six (4-1-1) is obviously important given how much they have struggled all season, so we’ll start with two positives before countering with a couple negatives from Game 28.
Hildeby stands tall
I posted on social media when Joseph Woll was injured that Dennis Hildeby actually had the second best goals saved above expected per 60 in the NHL this season, and there were a few snarky replies about small sample sizes and the like. Which, sure, fair enough.
Then he went out and had perhaps his best game as an NHLer on Saturday, making 33 saves on 34 shots against, many of them of the highlight reel variety.
Now he’s first in goals saved above expected among goalies with at least two starts. And has a very impressive .927 save percentage.
A lot has been said about Hildeby’s newfound confidence in the crease this season after he looked overwhelmed in spot duty last year, at age 23. But what was noticeable in this game was how athletic he is for a 6-foot-7 giant. That unique lateral ability — combined with a quick glove hand flashed on a huge breakaway stop on Zachary Bolduc that earned a standing ovation from a Scotiabank Arena crowd, half of which wore Habs red — is rare for someone with his size. It certainly seems he’s been able to use those gifts far more in his third season in North America.
There’s a lot of concern with Woll and Anthony Stolarz both out, but Hildeby has earned a longer look in the NHL. He has a huge test here with the Tampa Bay Lightning in town on Monday and only one day’s rest.
It’s plausible, however, that he’s up to that challenge based on his results so far.
“The more games I play, the better it feels,” Hildeby said. “I try and learn from every game.”
“I thought Dennis kept us in that game, for the most part,” countryman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “He gave us a chance to get points out of it. He played unbelievable.”
Hildeby was almost 21 years old when the Leafs took a flier on him with a fourth round pick in the draft three years ago. While it’s early in his development and goalies can be unpredictable, that certainly looks like found money for the franchise right now.
Dennis Hildeby looks like he belongs in net for the Leafs. (Kevin Sousa / NHLI via Getty Images)
Laughton’s big blast
This was such a goalie duel that Montreal appeared content trying to lock things down in the third for a 1-0 or 2-0 result. Then Nicolas Roy found Laughton for a long breakaway opportunity, and he pulled off the rare old school slapper from the hashmarks to tie the game with nine minutes to play.
It was bold, and it was beautiful.
Rockstar stuff from Laughton pic.twitter.com/WTp5id5lLD
— Jesse Blake (@JesseBlake) December 7, 2025
I’m calling it the Laughtomic Bomb going forward.
Laughton now has goals in three straight games after scoring just twice in his first 40 — regular season and playoffs — since joining the Leafs at the trade deadline last year. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a player become so beloved in a Leafs dressing room in such a short time. Everyone in the lineup has been overjoyed to finally see him have some better luck after being so snake-bitten (and injured) up until now.
All of the postgame comments about the goal were more about the person than the play.
“He’s one of those guys that brings that energy every single day,” Ekman-Larsson said. “Such a nice teammate to have in the room and obviously leaving everything on the ice at the same time. It was a huge goal for us.”
“Great guy in the room,” Hildeby said. “He makes a lot of noise, but it’s good noise that we need. He’s come up with big goals lately, so you love to see it.”
The Laughton trade has taken it’s fair share of criticism already given what the Leafs gave up and his lack of production, but you can’t argue with how important he feels to this team right now. He’s been huge on the PK and in helping get more from down the lineup, and it feels like the Leafs’ season started to turn around shortly after he got healthy.
Power play remains a mess
Speaking of bombs, it’s time for the coaching staff to lob one in to blow up the power play.
The Leafs had only three opportunities in the game, but with how close the score was, getting one goal there would have been huge. Instead, they fumbled the puck and fired wide again and again, managing to generate only one shot on goal and zero high danger chances in 5:11 of man advantage time.
We’ve never seen Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares, collectively, look this lost on the ice over their eight seasons together.
Toronto’s power play has converted on just eight percent of its opportunities in the past 11 games, dead last in the NHL in that time frame. The second unit has outplayed the star-studded first over that span, too, generating roughly double the number of chances per minute as the big guns.
It’s a small sample size, given he hasn’t played a ton there, but Nicolas Roy has the best of those numbers and might deserve a look in front of the net.
At minimum, however, the Leafs need to break up PP1, create two more balanced units and start going to PP2 more quickly when things aren’t working, developing at least a little bit more competition between the units. That sounds unorthodox, given they have some of the most dangerous players in the league on the top unit, but we’re more than 1/3 of the way through the schedule and this has cost them a lot of games.
“Right now, what I see when I watch it is they’re unsure of themselves,” coach Craig Berube said. “In particular, the power play in the second period moved it well, and we don’t take a shot. The shots are there, and we’re not taking them. Then when we do take a shot, it’s probably the wrong time. They’re not feeling too good about themselves out there. Obviously they’re not seeing it right now.
“Gotta work through it. That’s all you can do. Try to create some chemistry here.”
The Leafs have largely alleviated the heat on Berube with their recent win streak, but the man advantage continues to be a big strike against the staff given it’s actually gotten worse of late. Time for some new ideas.
Wrong side of the shot clock
It may have only been one bad period, but the second was so ugly it colored how to view this game as a whole. For 20 minutes, the Leafs were outshot 14-3 and out-attempted 30-9 in a frame that looked an awful lot like some of their worst performances of the year.
If there’s any consolation here, it’s that a high percentage of what they conceded was from distance and they finished the game tied 8-8 in high danger chances. Still, they were filled in so badly for a pivotal stretch of the game that it served as a reminder that they’re not fully clear of their struggles on the breakout and managing the puck.
The Simon Benoit-Philippe Myers third pair spent a lot of time in the D zone in the limited minutes they played, but the Leafs top two lines and the Jake McCabe-Troy Stecher pairing was overwhelmed at times, too.
Berube has been dealing heavy minutes to some of those players of late, and that could be part of what we’re seeing in games like this. Still, they need to be better in that department and not have those pronounced lulls in games.
“Basically Montreal owned that period because of turnovers,” Berube said.