They might not be in the business of moral victories, but the Toronto Maple Leafs put together their best game of their six-game homestand in a 1-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
The Leafs were outshot 23-19, and both teams went 0-for-1 with the man advantage. Anthony Stolarz stopped 22 of 23 shots, while Devon Levi shut the door with 19 saves for his first NHL shutout.
Moral victories for Maple Leafs don't count in the standings
The Maple Leafs' 7-2 win over the Oilers three weeks ago was an outlier when it comes to Edmonton's season, and Toronto's season, for that matter. The Pacific-leading Oilers are now 15-3-3 and the third-best team in the NHL. All of that to say, despite that lopsided loss to the Leafs, they are a very good hockey team.
For that reason, for the Maple Leafs, there should be many positives to take away from Saturday night's game, even in a loss. But considering the five games that came before it, it's really hard to see them, no matter how well they played.
"It's difficult because I can't just go and tell you all these good things and then we get on the wrong side of it again, so that's the hard part," head coach Jim Hiller said on Saturday night. "The guys played their tail off, they did, so I don't think anybody is going to question that. I'd like to see them get rewarded for that, I really would. It is what it is, you write your stories. But I'm here to tell you we deserved better than that through this six-game homestand, but we didn't, so we will move on to the next one."
While I understand and appreciate the sentiment, he lost me at the end. To say the Leafs deserved "better than that through this six-game homestand" is misleading. Did they deserve better on Saturday? Perhaps. Throughout the entire homestand? No. As I wrote about on Thursday, the Maple Leafs have been trailing in every third period, and before Saturday, had allowed 10 goals in the previous five third periods. In addition, they were outscored 23-9 during this stint at Scotiabank Arena. So, again, did they deserve better against the Oilers? Sure. But, as for the six games as a whole, they deserve exactly what they got.
"Human nature... You try not to always get caught up in the results, but that's ultimately what matters," John Tavares said after the loss. "Be lying if you didn't say you feel it. It's tough sledding, so we have to continue to work through it. Once we get through, we'll be better because of it."
Tavares' game-tying goal should have counted
The Maple Leafs not only deserved a better fate because of how they played, but they deserved better than having Tavares' game-tying goal disallowed. Tavares seemingly tied the game with a tip-in in the third, but the goal was taken off the board because the puck was played with a high stick.
"Felt pretty good about it when it went in and during the process," Tavares said. "I don't know what the explanation is, or exactly what the league saw, but they determined it was high."
After a lengthy review, John Tavares’ goal to open the third period is waved off for a high stick pic.twitter.com/40ZAY9EJEM
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 15, 2026
This might be a homer take, but I'll take the risk. When a goal is called good on the ice, or no good, for that matter, there has to be "conclusive evidence" to overturn it. First of all, out of all the angles we saw, there was one where it looked like it was high. Secondly, if a call has to be reviewed for over five minutes, that doesn't seem very conclusive to me. Maybe it was a high stick; maybe it wasn't; that's not really my point. Any review that takes that long is not conclusive.
In a situation like this, it's typical and cliche to say "that's not why they lost," or, "that's not why we lost." In this case, in a game this tight, that review is why they lost. Sure, you could say it was Easton Cowan failing to clear the zone on Evan Bouchard's goal, that's fine, but I stand behind my opinion that no review that takes that long is conclusive. Ok, I'm done.
Stolarz continues great start to season
Stolarz was terrific yet again, and despite a mediocre 5-4-0 record, his 2.69 goals against average and .906% save percentage is more than passable. Stolarz started back-to-back games for the first time this season.
He's been good for a long time," Hiller said of Stolarz. "He's big. Not a lot of rebounds. He played well against Edmonton last time."
"It sucks, it's not fun," Stolarz said, despite a great night by him. "You want to put on a show for the fans and get everyone excited. We dug ourselves a bit of a hole here, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. It's gut-check time."
Up next for Maple Leafs
The Leafs will head on the road for one quick game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, before heading back home for two games against the Los Angeles Kings and the Columbus Blue Jackets to finish the week.
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