Maple Leafs beat Panthers to move out of last place

Maple Leafs played smart hockey and with urgency in Sunrise, Fla., to improve to 4-7-0 on the road

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Published Dec 02, 2025 • Last updated 15 minutes ago • 4 minute read

Dakota Joshua of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his goal alongside Nicolas Roy against the Florida Panthers during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025, in Sunrise, Fla. Photo by Carmen Mandato /Getty Images

If you can’t beat ’em in the playoffs, send ’em to the basement.

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Eliminated by the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup playoffs in two of the last three years, the Maple Leafs put the two-time defending Cup champions in an embarrassing spot on Tuesday night.

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Toronto beat Florida 4-1 to move out of last place in the Eastern Conference, at the same time leaving the Panthers scraping along the conference bottom.

The Leafs played smart hockey and with urgency to improve to 4-7-0 on the road. They’ve won two in row for the first time since winning three in a row from Nov. 1-5.

“Solid game all around,” coach Craig Berube told media at Amerant Bank Arena afterward. “Goalie (Joseph Woll) was good, checked hard, physical, a lot of good things. It was good to see.

“It was probably one of the fastest-paced games we’ve played all year. We closed on people and when we had pucks we skated and attacked and our forecheck was good.”

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The Leafs are 3-1-0 on their trip, which finishes on Thursday night in Carolina against the Hurricanes, but still have a hill to climb.

Toronto is three points out of third place in the Atlantic Division and four points shy of the second wildcard in the conference.

Three takeaways:

You complete me

Top to bottom, that was the Leafs’ most complete win of 2025-26.

Driven by the bottom-six forwards and capped by captain Auston Matthews and John Tavares teaming up for an empty-net goal, the victory came because the Leafs worked, won puck battles and didn’t give Florida much space in the defensive zone.

If you’re thinking that it’s about time the Leafs played this way, you are not alone.

The third line of Nicolas Roy between Dakota Joshua and Bobby McMann had another strong outing, setting a competitive pace. It’s a large trio that should wear the opponent down consistently with physicality, and as we saw on Tuesday, there’s little that can be done when Joshua goes to net with scoring on his mind.

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That’s what Joshua did for the winning goal at 7:54 of the first period, 2 1/2 minutes after defenceman Troy Stecher opened the scoring. It was the third game in a row that the Leafs scored on their first shot on goal.

“They’re just on it,” Berube said of the Roy line. “Joshua and McMann have been really good on the walls in our zone, and Roy does a great job being underneath in support.

“They’re heavy on the forecheck. They hang on to pucks in the offensive zone and getting to the net and doing the job.”

Roy won 12 of his 15 draws as the Leafs dominated in the circle, winning 39 of 54 faceoffs.

Two goals, two firsts

The first goal of the season had different meanings for Stecher and Scott Laughton.

For Stecher, whose point shot got through a screen set by Roy, it was a nice complement to the way he has played since the Leafs claimed him on Nov. 15 off waivers from Edmonton.

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Laughton can stop squeezing his stick. His goal came off some determined forechecking from Nick Robertson, who battled veteran defenceman Gustav Forsling in the corner for the puck.

“It felt nice,” Laughton told TSN’s Mark Masters afterward. “Little bit of relief.”

No one expects Laughton to score every game, but that was just his third goal in 28 regular-season games since the Leafs acquired him from Philadelphia last March.

Toronto could use a little production from Laughton as it continues to attempt to ascend back into a playoff spot.

The Leafs held on to a lead in the third period and Laughton’s goal put a comeback out of reach for Florida.

“Big win for us,” Joshua said. “We have to keep it going.”

Power play fizzles

No game is perfect, and for the Leafs, it was a five-forward power play (Matthews, Tavares, William Nylander, Matthew Knies and Easton Cowan) that had some ugliness.

The Panthers took advantage and scored a shorthanded goal when Sam Reinhart beat Woll at 14:43 of the second period.

It was one thing when Mitch Marner was manning the point on the five-forward power play. It’s another when Matthews has been asked to do it, and the Leafs got burned on Tuesday.

Matthews looked out of sorts playing against a Panthers odd-man rush, and the Leafs were everywhere but in the right spots as Reinhart found open ice to score.

The Leafs didn’t score on three power plays. They’re 27th in the NHL on the man advantage.

Matthews is not being used properly if he’s quarterbacking the power play. His shot belongs on the flanks. He acknowledged this week that it’s “a big adjustment” to be the PP QB, which was about as critical as he was going to get.

Matthews has to know it’s not the best spot for him.

tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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