{"id":551285,"date":"2026-04-12T17:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T17:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/551285\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T17:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T17:42:20","slug":"panthers-maple-leafs-limping-to-finishing-line-of-forgettable-nhl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/551285\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers, Maple Leafs limping to finishing line of forgettable NHL season"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Craig Berube<\/a> stood behind a stunned and bitterly disappointed Maple Leafs\u2019 bench last spring.<\/p>\n

As the clock wound down and the Panthers started to celebrate their emphatic Game 7 victory in the second round of the playoffs at Scotiabank Arena, Toronto\u2019s head coach pivoted to the off-season believing there was something to build on in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Florida, meanwhile, went on to hoist the Stanley Cup for a second straight June. <\/p>\n

Fast-forward not even 11 months later, both clubs are in vastly different \u2014 and similar \u2014 positions near the bottom of the NHL\u2019s overall standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cTough for both teams,\u201d Berube told reporters Saturday morning. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have thought that, but circumstances, injuries \u2026 a lot of things play into it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the way it goes sometimes in this league. It just shows the parity in this league. You can\u2019t take a breath. There\u2019s no easy teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite missing a boatload of injured regulars in the waning moments of a lost campaign, Florida topped Toronto 6-2 on a night that meant nothing other than draft lottery positioning.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these games are weird when you know you\u2019re out of the playoffs,\u201d Maple Leafs winger William Nylander<\/a> said after scoring both his team\u2019s goals. \u201cWe\u2019ve been competing good. But I think they were competing better than us.\u201d <\/p>\n

Toronto (32-34-14) also has injuries, including captain and star centre Auston Matthews<\/a>, defenceman Chris Tanev<\/a> and now goaltender Anthony Stolarz<\/a>, but the Original Six franchise\u2019s issues appeared long before the sick bay started to fill up, with the gaping hole left by Mitch Marner\u2019s summer departure among the biggest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to approach it like any other game and not get too concerned with where we\u2019re at,\u201d Maple Leafs netminder Joseph Woll<\/a> said after his team fell to 0-4-1 over its last five contests. \u201cBut at the same time, obviously not very happy with the results recently.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to end the season on some kind of positive note,\u201d Nylander added. \u201cThat\u2019s the focus.\u201d <\/p>\n

Florida (38-38-4) was without 14 regulars Saturday, a long list led by captain Aleksander Barkov<\/a>, who hasn\u2019t played at all this season, fellow forwards Sam Reinhart<\/a>, Sam Bennett<\/a>, Matthew Tkachuk<\/a> and Evan Rodrigues<\/a>, along with blueliners Aaron Ekblad<\/a>, Dmitry Kulikov<\/a> and Seth Jones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRespect the game,\u201d Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said of his group\u2019s approach with youngsters and call-ups occupying roster spots. \u201cI think we did that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida is set to miss the post-season for the first time since 2019, while Toronto hasn\u2019t sat out the NHL\u2019s annual spring dance in a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult, no doubt about it,\u201d Berube, a former NHL enforcer and Cup winner as coach, said post-game Saturday of suiting up in meaningless contests. \u201cBut you gotta perform and you gotta play. You gotta compete. I thought we competed. We didn\u2019t go out there and not compete, but there\u2019s just mistakes. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s turnovers or different plays and situations, there\u2019s mistakes and they\u2019re finding the way in the net.\u201d <\/p>\n

FIRST STEP<\/p>\n

Maple Leafs defenceman William Villeneuve<\/a> made his NHL debut after almost four full seasons in the American Hockey League with the Toronto Marlies.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que., who was selected 122nd overall in 2020, has 29 points (three goals, 26 assists) and 64 penalty minutes across 59 games in the AHL in 2025-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was unbelievable,\u201d Villeneuve said. \u201cA great experience. Wasn\u2019t the result that we wanted, but I\u2019ll remember that day for rest of my life.\u201d <\/p>\n

BIG FAN<\/p>\n

Woll said he enjoyed watching Artur Akhtyamov<\/a> make his first NHL start in Thursday\u2019s 5-3 road loss to the New York Islanders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Russian netminder was under siege early \u2014 including 24 shots against in the first period \u2014 and finished with 39 saves.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love his game \u2026 he\u2019s sick,\u201d Woll said. \u201cPretty cool, from my perspective, to watch him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Woll added that Akhtyamov gives off similar energy to countrymen and NHL stars Andrei Vasilevskiy<\/a>, Igor Shesterkin<\/a>, Ilya Sorokin<\/a> and Sergei Bobrovsky<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat Russian swagger,\u201d he said. \u201cSame kind of vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 12, 2026.<\/p>\n

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Craig Berube stood behind a stunned and bitterly disappointed Maple Leafs\u2019 bench last spring. As the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551286,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5102],"tags":[62,57,5141,5,4,63,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-551285","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-panthers","10":"tag-floridapanthers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-panthers","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116392974302323921","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551285","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}