Overcoming a lack of five-on-five offense, the Maple Leafs leaned on their special teams en route to a 3-1 victory over a Kings team that seldom loses at home.

The Leafiest possible outcome was to lose to the last-placed Sharks for the second time this season only to take care of business against the almost-unbeatable-on-home-ice Kings. Here we are.

Your game in 10:

1.   Very different from the game in San Jose, the early stages of this game were not played at a breakneck pace. Both teams limit five-on-five offense well when on their games, and it was a bit of a feeling-out process/chess match in the early going.

There was one sort-of chance in the early going when a puck bounced to the side of Darcy Kuemper, but John Tavares couldn’t get his stick free to take a whack at it.

The one noteworthy event early on was Brandon Carlo getting in his first fight in two years, taking on Jeff Malott after Malott took a healthy whack at Anthony Stolarz. Carlo dictated the fight and landed some blows, although he did take more visible damage due to a cut on his nose (probably caused by his visor). Good on Carlo for stepping in for his goalie without hesitation.

The list of Leafs to drop the gloves this season is now at 11: Carlo, Laughton, Domi (x3), Benoit (x2), Reaves, Myers, Knies, Dewar (traded), McCabe (x2), Rielly, and Holmberg. The willingness for nearly half the roster to step in for teammates at different times has been commendable.

2.   The Kings nearly had a fantastic chance in front, as Adrian Kempe sped past the Leafs‘ defense to break in alone on a bank pass off the end boards, but he could not control the puck as he cut towards the net. The best look of the opening 10 minutes or so belonged to Scott Laughton, who had a quality good chance on the doorstep but could not beat Kuemper in tight.

Overall, regarding the early returns on the newly formed Laughton-Max Domi-Calle Jarnkrok line, they only played around eight five-on-five minutes as a trio, and the shot attempts were heavily tilted in the Kings’ favour (12-5). However, a lot of the outside volume from the Kings slants those metrics across the board. For what it’s worth, the trio came out at a more reasonable 48% in the expected goals.

Hopefully, the line receives a trial period longer than one game (a very cagey five-on-five matchup to boot). Jarnkrok has been a credible 20-goal threat in the league before while bringing a more rounded game than Robertson and more offensive finish than Holmberg. It also avoids placing a left-handed shot on his off wing. The combination is worth some run.

3.   While the penalties in the game finished in Toronto’s favour (4-3), in the first period, there was well-founded angst about the officiating on the Leafs‘ side of things. Among other frustrating moments, the officials missed an obvious trip against Oliver Ekman-Larsson, which was made worse by a bit of a soft holding the stick call against Max Domi moments later.

The Leafs‘ penalty kill did a good job suppressing quality looks against a struggling power play despite allowing four shots on goal on the opening Kings 5v4. Those four shots juiced the numbers somewhat with the 13-10 shots-on-goal count in favour of LA, as the Leafs were generally dictating play in the second half of the first period without creating many grade-A looks.

4.   Following a low-event opening 20 minutes, the Kings were able to break through early in the middle frame. After the puck popped up in the neutral zone on a broken play, Alex Laferriere collected it with his hand, dropped it to his stick, and broke into the Leafs’ zone. A subtle shoulder fake completely scrambled Simon Benoit off balance as he got torched around the edge, surrendering a high-quality chance out of not much of anything that ended up in the back of the Leafs’ net.

Benoit’s struggles with puck movement and getting beat one-on-one remain apparent, and Berube’s hesitance to give OEL-Myers a whirl is becoming more and more head-scratching on this road trip. It’s not that Myers is a likely cure-all for the #6 D spot, but Benoit seemingly needs a reset, and the prospect of a possible rising-tide-lifting-all-boats effect with a proper lefty-righty combo on the bottom pairing is worth a gander.

Benoit has responded very well to healthy scratches in the past, and if Berube staunchly believes him to be the sixth-best defenseman on the roster at the end of the day, it still makes some sense to give him a reset right now with the chance to return for a run of games before the playoffs.

5.   The Kings are built to defend leads and very rarely find themselves behind in games. Playing from behind against them in their building is a daunting task; five-on-five offense was probably going to be hard to come by for the Leafs, and it was.

The Leafs generated just one rush chance at even strength in this game (both 5v5 and 4v4), and they struggled to create much off of the dump-and-chase as well, as the Kings threw molasses on the neutral zone and limited the Leafs’ speed through neutral ice. It was obvious watching the game that the Leafs would have to stay patient, not feed into the Kings’ trap or dig a bigger hole by forcing the issue, and wait for a few game-breaking moments from their stars and/or the power play.

6.   The concept of Auston Matthews starting penalty kills has drawn much criticism in recent months (myself included). A game like the San Jose loss is case-in-point; Matthews ended up over 25 minutes in TOI, and his coach gave him a practice off the next day while talking about load management. Matthews also hasn’t been his dominant self at five-on-five with the same level of consistency as years past. On top of those other considerations, the PK has struggled greatly in 2025, hovering just outside the bottom five in the league. So, how has the juice been worth the squeeze?

Well, those debates aside, if Matthews is going to play top PK minutes, you’re at least hoping for the odd bit of shorthanded magic at a key time in a big game. One arrived tonight at the start of the third period.

7.    The opening minute of the final frame was chaotic, as Kopitar had a fantastic chance on a big rebound, but Tavares committed a worthwhile hook into the hands to partially disrupt it, and Stolarz came up with a key save.

On the kill, Kopitar mishandled a puck on an entry attempt, and Marner did well to poke the puck free, springing Matthews on a breakaway chance, but the backhand five-hole attempt was underwhelming and didn’t fool Kuemper.

Matthews stayed with it and kept the play alive. After a couple of east-west passes with Jake McCabe, Matthews collected the puck again, heading downhill in the Kings’ zone. His second shorthanded goal of the year was a big one.

 

The Kings challenged to see if Matthews high-sticked the puck in the corner shortly before the goal. I’m not sure why the Sportsnet feed only showed the angle from the corner once and insisted on repeatedly showing the angle from the camera behind and above the play, making the stick look higher than it was. The angle from the corner made it impossible to overturn this goal conclusively, so the right call was made.

As a result of the failed coaches challenge, the Kings were handed a penalty, leading to some 4v4 action. After a quiet opening 40 minutes, Marner made another notable contribution in the third when he drove the net and drew a penalty. The Leafs called a timeout to set up the 4v3 and the 30 seconds of 5v3 time, but the red-hot Leafs’ powerplay failed to convert.

A few moments later, though, William Nylander and Vladislav Gavrikov both went off after slashing and cross-checking each other in front of the net, setting up more 4v4 time. Nylander has been noticeably more feisty/physically engaged lately. He also dismissed a question about his own production by referencing the playoffs as everything. While those are seemingly small things, they are praiseworthy glimpses of Nylander dialing into a new level of seriousness/”eyes on the prize” this season. 

In the context of the game and the Kings’ defensive strengths (especially on home ice), anything that shook the game loose and opened up some extra ice was a positive from the Leafs’ perspective. During the 4-on-4 sequence, Matthews swung around the net, and Kuemper tripped him with a sweep-check attempt. 

8.   The Leafs’ second 4v3 sequence was a little weird in the sense that the Leafs were generating chances but kept losing the zone and were forced to regain it several times. However, one of those zone entries led to the game-winning goal.

With Nylander in the box, Morgan Rielly received the nod as the fourth skater with Matthews, Marner, and Tavares. As the Leafs gained the zone, Matthews made a slick move to buy time at the line and avoid a check before sending a feed to Rielly across the ice. Rielly returned it to Matthews for a one-timer attempt that was turned away, but the rebound landed right on the stick of Tavares, who banged home the rebound.

Tavares has been on an unbelievable heater in March; he’s now scored 13 goals this month and is up to 35 on the year (after adding an empty-net tally to close this one out). He’s also on a five-game goal streak, scoring eight goals in total.

Notably, Tavares had two goals in 11 games before the 4 Nations break. Since the pause, he has 14 in 18. Call it a blessing in disguise that he received the rest instead of the Team Canada assignment, or just one hell of a way to respond to a snub; either way, Tavares is in an incredible spot with his game as the playoffs approach.

9.   The Kings are a great team with the lead but not a great one when playing from behind. The Leafs are pretty effective at protecting third-period leads, and the Kings often struggle to break down a well-structured opponent. They lack game-breaking superstar producers, with zero players currently on pace for 70 points. It made for a relatively stress-free final five minutes. There was one chance of note against the Nylander line, but that was about it.

With the net empty, Marner anticipated the play well in the corner before flipping it high and out of the zone. Tavares out-battled Kopitar to earn his second of the night and seal an important two points over a quality opponent, especially after the Leafs threw away three points to Nashville and San Jose in the past week.

10.  The Leafs became just the fourth team to beat the Kings in regulation in L.A. this season. The Kings’ home record of 26-4-4 is bonkers, so credit the Leafs for finding a way to get the job done in a low-event game. Despite what the shots indicated —  they were juiced by the outside volume from the Kings — the Leafs were the better team in the critical areas of the ice for sizable portions of the night.

The Leafs are now temporarily back in first in the division, but the Panthers possess a game in hand. The Panthers will play a home-and-home against the Habs on Sunday and Tuesday before a huge game on Wednesday in Toronto; that means the Leafs will catch them in a tired back-to-back/three-in-four situation. It’s critical that the Leafs enter that game sitting at 94 points by taking care of business against the Ducks tomorrow night, or this impressive win will be undone.

Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Game Highlights w/ Joe Bowen & Jim Ralph

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