Coming off what can be gently described as one of the Maple Leafs’ more lifeless outings over the past decade in Washington, notable changes were made across the lineup ahead of this game in Nashville. The Leafs continued to play terrible hockey.
All of Steven Lorentz, Max Domi, and Henry Thrun were healthy scratched, while Matias Maccelli, Calle Jarnkrok, and Philippe Myers returned to the lineup. Further, all the lines were shaken up. Easton Cowan was elevated to play with Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies (although we could debate if that’s even a promotion at this point), William Nylander was back with John Tavares and Maccelli, and Nick Robertson was moved next to Nic Roy and Bobby McMann, leaving a fourth line of Dakota Joshua – Scott Laughton – Jarnkrok.
The Leafs did get off to a good start, as Roy scored just over a minute and a half into his 400th career NHL game. New linemate Nick Robertson made a nice play to skate through the neutral zone after he fooled a Nashville player in the Leafs‘ zone to recover the puck. After gaining the line, Robertson stopped up and ripped a far-side pass to the trailing McMann, who had an easy play to slide it over to Roy, who was standing all by himself and tipped it neatly into the top corner. It was the kind of rush goal the team has sorely lacked, and the type of sequence where we’ve often seen the Leafs dump the puck in instead of making plays this season.
For the first half of the first period, anyway, the Leafs‘ defense was active, the team skated the puck into the zone a bit more than usual, and they generally controlled the play. However, as the period progressed, Nashville began to tilt the ice the other way. The only real reason the Leafs took a lead into the first intermission is that Joseph Woll made a collection of really good saves.
The Leafs’ slim lead quickly evaporated just under five minutes into the second period when the Predators scored on a power-play point shot (imagine that!), deflected in front by Erik Haula. The power play itself was the result of Matthew Knies slowly skating up the ice in his own zone and getting stripped from behind, culminating in a Jake McCabe penalty.
Even though the Leafs retook the lead, they were generally outplayed, as per usual. Halfway through the game, they recorded just nine shots on net against the Nashville Predators.
A few minutes after the midway point, one of the Leafs’ lone bright spots helped facilitate a Toronto goal. Matias Maccelli, who was pretty effective and dangerous in this game, was rewarded with an assist when his shot from the point double deflected — off Tavares’ skate as well as a Predators defenseman — and into the back of the net.
Matthews went on a mini-breakaway to extend the lead, but he didn’t convert, and truthfully, it never felt close. It used to be a source of excitement when the puck was on Matthews’ stick, but now it’s like watching any other mid-level player.
At the other end, Michael Bunting hit the bar on a 2v1, as he got up for this game and was better than most of the Leafs’ forwards.
Even while getting outplayed, the Leafs should have taken a lead into the third period, but Matthews had the kind of shift that was stunning to witness from a 28-year-old who has been in the league for 10 seasons. First, he tried to skate through multiple Predators in a 4v4 off the rush. I guess he didn’t learn his lesson after he was burned attempting something similar against San Jose a week ago.
When the puck was flipped out, Matthews was in a race with Filip Forsberg and didn’t make a particularly strong play on the puck. Joseph Woll did make a play on it, though, and while it wasn’t a particularly strong play, either — he weakly sent the puck up the wall, instead of blasting it out — Knies was beaten up the ice by his defenseman. Adam Wilsby walked right in and shot the puck in the middle of the net, straight through Woll.
It was a calamity of errors led by the captain/1C, who is supposed to be the team’s best player. The team was struggling, and it just needed to take a lead into the intermission and regroup, but this was the shift on display from #34. It’s indefensible, and yet he has never once been accountable for his play in his public comments, so he’s probably not about to start now.
After two periods, offensive-zone possession time was 10:06 for Nashville and 7:51 for the Leafs. Rinse and repeat.
In the third period, the dam finally broke when Morgan Rielly got absolutely torched by Luke Evangelista. At least it was Connor McDavid last Saturday — he gets the best of everyone — but Luke Evangelista? Rielly wasn’t even close on the play. Every defenseman gets beat — it is the nature of the job, and fans can be unfair on defensemen at times — but this was a really bad beat, at a really bad time, by the team’s highest-paid D.
The Leafs generated essentially nothing to this point in the period, and they didn’t for the next five or so minutes after the 3-2 Nashville goal, either. They didn’t appear to know they were losing until about three minutes were left in the game, when they made a bit of a push.
However, just like on the power play, Nylander once again was tasked with carrying the puck through the neutral zone up a man with the goalie pulled, and once again, he turned it over for an empty-net goal that should have sealed the game.
The Leafs sent out a secondary unit afterward — Robertson, McMann, Laughton, Roy, Cowan, and OEL — and they not only looked good, but they scored a goal with just under a minute left, leaving more than enough time to give it a go. Naturally, Berube responded by immediately yanking them off the ice for the top players who accomplished nothing all night. They held true to form, not even sniffing the net and giving up another empty netter.
I tweeted this three games ago, and it has been true every game since. What’s the point?
Can’t breakout, can’t cycle, your captain is completely unengaged, and so is your best offensive player. You get outshot and outplayed every night and your coach calls it being patient. The PP is an abomination. The product is terrible. What’s it going to take for a head to roll?
— Anthony Petrielli (@APetrielli) December 17, 2025
Post-Game Notes
– The lasting memory of this game for me will be Craig Berube sending out his top players for one last try a second after the second unit scored to pull the Leafs back within one. Auston Matthews was awful all night, once again, and his play at the end of the second period led directly to a goal against. Matthew Knies was stripped, leading directly to a penalty and a Nashville power-play goal. William Nylander gave the puck away for an empty-netter.
Generally, I am a “go down with your best” person, but they weren’t the Leafs’ best tonight — they haven’t been for weeks — and they didn’t deserve to be on the ice at the end. That’s not to suggest the second unit would have tied it, but there must be standards and principles to adhere to. Once upon a time, it was supposedly the reason this coach was hired.
– Another game, another night where the Leafs were outplayed nearly 60/40 at five-on-five by their opponent. There is a lot of talk about a lack of talent on the team, usually followed by the suggestion that no coach could fix this mess. I simply don’t buy it. When Mike Babcock took over during the tank year, the Leafs iced a truly terrible lineup and still managed to own 51.35 percent of shot attempts at five-on-five, despite a roster featuring no player with more than 47 points. Babcock was a lot of things, but there was structure and a real system under his watch, and the team played accordingly. This current team, with actual talent in the lineup, is a disjointed mess.
– Berube keeps referencing mental mistakes — he did it again tonight — and while that’s part of it, we again have to scream, “They literally can’t break the puck out!” The breakouts are so, so poor. We can’t even fathom the team making three passes in a row, on the tape, from their own zone, leading to a clean exit.
– The first line with Knies and Matthews was out-attempted 18-10, and of course, Matthews and Knies were on for the 4v4 goal against (plus, Knies took the penalty leading to the first Predators goal). It’s another woefully insufficient showing from Matthews and Knies, who finished second and third amongst Leafs forwards in time on ice, respectively. Admittedly, Berube played both under 18 and a half minutes on the night, so he did somewhat scale back their ice time.
– Nick Robertson picked up two points and played just 12:36. His linemate, Bobby McMann, played with pace, picked up a goal and an assist, and finished at just 11:33. Only Calle Jarnkrok and Scott Laughton played less than those two forwards, as the wheels on this bus go round and round.
– Matias Maccelli picked up an assist in his return to the lineup and played 16:19. He held onto pucks, made some crafty passes, and was generally involved. I’d keep him in the lineup after this effort.
– There is not much to say about the defense. Morgan Rielly was badly beaten, nobody produced anything, and not a single one of them stood out, but the options are limited. I don’t know why Henry Thrun was taken out of the lineup, but Philippe Myers didn’t give them a jolt if that was the hope (?) there. They are missing two key pieces, and even some decent depth ones in Dakota Mermis and Marshall Rifai, but it’s tough to look at this unit on a nightly basis now.
– It’s worth reiterating the obvious here: This was a game against the Nashville Predators, who are terrible and will be blowing it up even further in the coming months. The Leafs are now playing like genuinely one of the worst — if not the worst — teams in the league. Nobody has been traded (and now there’s a Christmas trade freeze in effect, although two teams executed trades last night before the clock hit midnight), and nobody has been fired. There is nothing redeeming about the team right now. We can’t squint at a single thing this coaching staff is getting out of this group and find a reason for hope in it. They aren’t even remotely close. It might not make a difference whatsoever, but you have to make a change here. It is crystal clear.
Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts
Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts
Game Highlights w/Joe Bowen: Predators 5 vs. Maple Leafs 3