All good things must come to an end, as the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-3 on Thursday evening. Toronto lost for the first time during the 2025 calendar year, ending its five-game winning streak, and three of its most important players were the primary culprits.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner have been on fire since Matthews returned to the lineup on January 4 against the Boston Bruins, but they were doused for one evening. Matthews and Marner finished with a dreadful -6 rating and were constantly picked apart in the defensive end. Matthews scored an equalizing goal in the second period, but there’s no way of putting a positive spin on the evening for Toronto’s first line. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube had enough — perhaps too little, too late — after Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal notched a hat-trick — putting his lines into a blender.
Staal won the matchups between captains, and he certainly has a flare for playing his best games against the Maple Leafs:
It wasn’t all bad for the Maple Leafs and through the opening frame, it looked like it was going to be The William Nylander show. Nylander generated three breakaways in eight minutes, hitting a post, before scoring on his third attempt, after stripping Hurricanes defender Jalen Chatfield and raced away. From there onwards, Nylander’s offensive impact largely dried up, but he needed to get back on the scoresheet and can build off his first-period explosion during Saturday’s game.
Joseph Woll didn’t do enough to keep the Leafs in the game, either. It was a rare off night for Woll, who won his past five starts and has been admirable in the No. 1 role for the Leafs since Anthony Stolarz’s injury on December 12. Woll was beaten cleanly by Jackson Blake — the son of former Leafs forward Jason Blake — and allowed four goals on 14 shots, finishing with 28 saves on 33 shots overall. There was a chance that Woll would’ve been pulled for Dennis Hildeby, but Berube was keen to see his goaltender stick it out, in the event of a valiant comeback.
There were several culprits, but it starts at the top. Matthews, Marner and Matthew Knies were tremendous during the past three games, but they were largely awful in this one. Knies drew two penalties and Marner created a ton of chances, but you can’t excuse a -6 showing from Toronto’s resident superstars, while Nylander disappeared after an eight-minute supernova and Woll didn’t make enough quality stops to provide the Leafs with a reasonable chance.
All good things must come to an end, as the Maple Leafs can shake this one off, and look ahead to the Vancouver Canucks at home on Saturday evening.
