The Toronto Maple Leafs nearly pulled off one heck of a comeback on Tuesday night. Down 5-2 in the third period, the Leafs clawed their way back to one goal, nearly tying the game in the dying seconds.
It was great to see plenty of pushback after Toronto had been outplayed for most of the night.
But the bottom line here is that the comeback couldn’t paper over the club’s biggest weakness.
No, it wasn’t the defensive miscues that led to goals. It was the fact that Anthony Stolarz could not make the saves that he had to.
If you look back at any of the goals the Leafs' backup goalie surrendered, they were saves he could have made. You can even argue that they were saves he should have made.
Take back any of those goals, especially the MacKenzie Weegar goal late in the second period, and the Maple Leafs could have at least forced overtime.
Alas, that was not the case. And it highlighted that the Leafs cannot survive if the goaltending isn’t there. Their last two games, the overtime loss in Vegas and the win in Colorado were possible thanks to Sergei Bobrovsky playing well. Stolarz did not, and the Buds ended up dropping a tough loss, despite the strong comeback effort.
Maple Leafs will live and die by their goaltending
A familiar problem is beginning to resurface for the Maple Leafs. The team is playing well, driving the play, and generating offense. But the defense isn’t quite what it should be. And the wins are coming down to the Leafs’ goalie being able to stop the puck at crucial junctures.
That was something that Freddie Andersen, Jack Campbell, Ilya Samsonov, and Joseph Woll were unable to do. In fact, the only guy that really delivered that sort of performance for a while was Stolarz. He had that fantastic run in 2024-25, before ultimately succumbing to injuries. This season, Stolarz hasn’t quite been that lights-out goalie the Maple Leafs first landed a couple of seasons ago.
That’s why it seems that the Maple Leafs will live and die by their goaltending. There’s really no other way around it. If Toronto can get decent performances on the nights that Bobrovsky doesn’t play, the chances of the Leafs getting back into the postseason will dramatically increase.
Otherwise, head coach Jim Hiller may end up riding Bobrovsky far too much, particularly towards the end of the season.
Let’s hope that the Tuesday night’s game serves as a wake-up call for the entire club.
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