DETROIT — The Toronto Maple Leafs have picked up five points out of a possible six in their last three games. Given how poor the results have been for the club this season, that should be a reason for optimism. However, a win against the top team in the Atlantic Division would have been far more satisfying. Instead, Toronto had to settle for a 3-2 overtime loss against the Detroit Red Wings, despite holding the lead twice.

After jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the second period thanks to a power-play goal from Matthew Knies, the Maple Leafs were about a minute away from entering the second intermission with the lead. That changed when an extended shift in the offensive zone by Detroit led to a Moritz Seider point shot that tied the game with 58 seconds remaining in the frame.

“I thought that in the second period we turned a couple pucks over in the neutral zone and a couple in our D-zone where we just got to make simpler plays,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube lamented. “And then we get extended in our zone and they ended up scoring”.

Defenseman Jake McCabe was on the ice for 1:47 before Seider’s goal, highlighting the difficulty the team faced in getting the puck out of harm's way.

In the third period, Nick Robertson reclaimed the lead for Toronto with a solid wrist shot that beat Red Wings goaltender Cam Talbot. But just 23 seconds later, Mason Appleton caught the Leafs off guard, blowing past Troy Stecher and the Toronto defense. While Leafs forward Nicolas Roy called for an offside on the play, the Leafs ultimately did not challenge the goal.

M🎯 #LGRWpic.twitter.com/sjOCw3G28P

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) December 29, 2025

Despite the loss, there were bright spots for Toronto. A struggling power play that previously resulted in the dismissal of assistant coach Marc Savard has suddenly turned around, producing three goals in the last two games. Dennis Hildeby was also solid in net making 31 saves on 34 shots, giving the club further confidence to utilize him while managing Joseph Woll’s workload during the absence of Anthony Stolarz due to a mysterious upper-body injury.

But the Leafs were still not good enough at 5-on-5 when it mattered. They sat back when they had the lead, and it burned them.

Matthew Knies scores a PP goal in back-to-back games for the first time in his career#LeafsForeverpic.twitter.com/iyttsHlrAO

— Sportsnet Stats (@SNstats) December 29, 2025

“We obviously are going to find ourselves in a lot of these hockey games, especially within the division,” Maple Leafs forward John Tavares said. “We’ve got to stay with it and find a way to come out on the right side of it. We'll take the point and build on some of the good things, clean up our neutral zone—especially in the third period—and look toward a big week ahead”.

Again just too much sitting back for the Leafs. This game was there for them after a great start. @MoneyPuckdotcompic.twitter.com/knGXI8hZ44

— James Mirtle (@mirtle) December 29, 2025

While the Leafs have played with a better sense of urgency coming off the break, questions remain as to whether they are currently good enough. The Red Wings demonstrated what can happen when young, promising talent comes together. For the Leafs, the path forward requires being a better team, one step at a time.

Kirill Marchenko(12,13), Ivan Provorov(5), and Cole Sillinger(4-EN) scored the goals for Columbus, while Jet Greaves stopped 24 shots in a 4-2 Blue Jackets win on Sunday night. 

The Jackets scored three late goals in the third period to pull out the victory, something they're not used to doing. 

This game pretty much had it all. From a called back goal (controversial) to an allowed goal (also controversial), to multiple major penalties being reviewed, and everything in between. 

The Islanders' first goal was ruled a goal after it hit Max Shabanov in the knee, which then went into the net. A couple months ago, a puck that hit Dmitri Voronkov in the chest and went in, was ruled no goal because it was deflected in off of a body part. People weren't sure why this one was able to stand, while others, like Voronkov's was negated. I don't think anyone understands officiating in the NHL. 

Meanwhile, the Jackets had a goal called back because they claimed the goalie was pushed. The replay wasn't exactly clear, so it was upheld. The Blue Jackets had a similar play ruled against them, even though Jet Greaves was spun around by an opponent's stick, thus sending the puck into the net. 

And now for the chaos. 

It all started when the Jackets Mason Marchment went in to make a hit on the rookie Matthew Schaefer. When Marchment got close, Schaefer did a little dip and made it look like Marchment hit him high. Had Schaefer stood his ground, it would've been a normal hockey play. Instead, Marchment was called for roughing. From that point on, you just knew that the Islanders were going to take some shots at Marchment even though it was a clean play. 

Just over a minute into the second period, Marchment and Schaefer again came together. Like magnets, both players seemed to be attracted to one another, this time near center ice. In what originally looked like a knee-on-knee hit and ruled a major penalty, it was determined that it was NOT a knee shot and ruled a common trip. Just after the play, the Islanders Mathew Barzal took a baseball swing at Mason Marchment's feet and made contact with the top of his foot. Barzal was given a game misconduct, and the Jackets were given a power play. Islanders players and their fans were not happy, but it was the correct call. 

Watch the video below and see the still photo and draw your own conclusions. 

Marchment tripped Schaefer and Barzal was NOT having it slashing him in response.

CHAOS in Columbus right now. pic.twitter.com/8AiarchwXN

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 28, 2025

The game would calm down after that chaos, but not without the drama at the end. The Blue Jackets served up a little payback by scoring late goals to send the sellout crowd at Nationwide home happy on a warm Sunday night. 

Columbus is usually on the wrong end of teams scoring three goals in three minutes late in the third period, but they cranked up the intensity in this one and beat the second-place Islanders. 

And now for the fun stuff. The post-game quotes. 

Mason Marchment on the second period chaos, "I'm kind of used to it by now. It's part of my game to try to get in the other teams' head a little bit. You know, I was never trying to hurt (Schaefer) there in the middle, just get in his way. Probably not smart by me."

Islanders Head Coach Patick Roy, "We thought it was a knee-on-knee. We're never going to blame a teammate going and trying to defend a teammate [...] I like the response by Barzy."

Dean Evason was asked after the game if he was surprised at Barzal's response, “I don’t know. I used to see that a lot.”

Final Stats

Player Stats

• Kirill Marchenko scored two goals and had 5 shots.
• Ivan Provorov scored a goal and played 26:56.
• Cole Sillinger scored a goal and played only 8:11.
• Denton Mateychuk had two assists and played 26:28.
• Sean Monahan had two assists.
• Mason Marchment recorded an assist and was a plus-3. He also had 6 PIMs.
• Adam Fantilli had a assist and 8 shots.
• Damon Severson had an assist.
• Jet Greaves made 24 saves.

Team Stats

• The Jackets' power play went 0/4.
• The Columbus PK stopped both of the Islanders power plays.
• Columbus won 44.1% of the faceoffs - 26/59
• The Blue Jackets had 25 hits.

Up Next: The Blue Jackets play the Ottawa Senators tonight at 7 PM in Ottawa. 

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The Florida Panthers will kick off a challenging back-to-back set on Monday night in Sunrise.

After dropping a tightly contested matchup to their rivals to the north on Saturday – a 4-2 road win for Tampa Bay – Florida will look to get back on the winning track when they host the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens at Amerant Bank Arena in a 24-hour span.

The Capitals arrive in South Florida feeling good, coming out of the break with a 4-3 overtime win in New Jersey.

Prior to the victory, the Caps had lost six of their past seven, a stretch that took them from first place with a three-point lead in the Metropolitan Division on Dec. 7 to the first Wild Card spot and one point north of the playoff line on Dec. 23.

Most fans would probably be surprised to learn that the player leading the Capitals in both goals and points this season is not Alex Ovechkin, but actually gritty forward Tom Wilson.

Entering play Monday, Wilson has racked up 17 goals and 34 points through 37 games, putting him on pace to potentially break the career marks he set last season (33 goals and 65 points in 81 games).

Ovechkin, for what it’s worth, is only two goals (15) and one point (33) behind Wilson for the team lead in both categories.

As for Florida, they received a jolt of positive news on Sunday when All-Star forward Matthew Tkachuk joined the team for his first practice of the season.

Tkachuk has been recovering from offseason surgery for a torn adductor and sports hernia, and while he probably won’t be playing in either of the back-to-back games, just his presence at a formal practice means that he’s getting very close to making his season debut.

This will be the second of three regular season meetings between the Cats and Caps.

Florida defeated the Capitals 6-3 back on Nov. 13, a game that Sam Reinhart, Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen logged three points apiece and Daniil Tarasov made 37 saves to pick up his first win as a Panther.

It’s possible Tarasov gets the nod again for the Cats, as Florida Head Coach Paul Maurice will likely start each of his goaltenders for the back-to-back set.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings for Monday’s matchup with the Capitals:

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Brad Marchand

Mackie Samoskevich – Evan Rodrigues – A.J. Greer

Jesper Boqvist – Luke Kunin – Jack Studnicks

Gus Forsling – Aaron Ekblad

Niko Mikkola – Seth Jones

Uvis Balinskis – Jeff Petry

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Photo caption: Nov 13, 2025; Sunrise, Florida, USA; Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) moves the puck against the Washington Capitals during the first period at Amerant Bank Arena. (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)

Martin St-Louis wondered on Sunday morning if it was an advantage for his Montreal Canadiens that their host, the Tampa Bay Lightning, had played the night before. Usually, yes, it would have been, but after returning from the Christmas break, the bench boss was concerned that his players might need some time to shake off the rust. It wasn’t the case, though. The Habs hit the ground running and played a nearly perfect first frame, but as has often been the case this season, it was in the second frame that they came undone.

Montreal dominated the first 20 minutes in puck possession and shots, but it just wasn’t able to capitalize on three power play opportunities; that’s the kind of mistake that eats at you, at your confidence and plays on your mind for the rest of the game.

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Staying In Control For 60 Minutes

Given the fact that the Habs dominated the play early on, they probably felt they should have been in the lead when Ivan Demidov’s stick broke for the second time of the game, which allowed the Lightning to send Nikita Kucherov on a breakaway and, of course, to take a 1-0 lead.

The frustration was evident when Alexandre Texier took a silly penalty in the offensive zone less than 40 seconds after the locals had taken the lead. Thankfully for Texier, the Bolts were unable to capitalize on the opportunity, but it still gave Jon Cooper’s team some momentum back.

The second goal also came from a Canadiens’ mistake/stroke of bad luck when Juraj Slafkovsky tried to launch Josh Anderson on a breakaway but hit the linesman with his pass, and the puck bounced straight to the Lightning, who made the most of the odd-man rush.

Luck had no part in Nick Paul’s goal, however, as he just blew by Phillip Danault to evade his coverage and score on a rebound. Down 3-0 after 35 minutes, the Canadiens were clearly feeling hard done by, while the Lightning were entirely in control.

Gun Shy

It’s been discussed multiple times since the start of the season: the Canadiens need to shoot more. Spending six minutes on the power play and just generating three shots is inexcusable. A goal’s a goal, no matter how pretty the build-up was; there is no point in looking for the perfect play, you need to get the little piece of vulcanized rubber past the goal line by whatever means necessary.

In the third frame, the Habs took 16 shots on net and, unsurprisingly, scored four goals: no shots, no goals; plenty of shots, plenty of goals.

The Kids Line

The first line might be struggling since Slafkovsky has been moved to the second line, but the new unit he forms with Oliver Kapanen and Ivan Demidov was the sole reason the Canadiens clawed their way back into this game.

Slafkovsky and Kapanen both had five shots in the game, while the Russian rookie had three (those three all had eight shot attempts, but some were missed or blocked). What’s most impressive is the chemistry between the three, which is getting increasingly better. The ease with which they go from the attack to the defence and back is fantastic; they flip the switch incredibly quickly, and the opponent isn’t always ready for it.

The patience they’ve displayed on a couple of plays was just as impressive. On the Canadiens’ second goal, as soon as the Lightning turned the puck over, Slafkovsky called for the puck even though he was far behind. Kapanen understood that meant put it in space for me when you get to the blueline, and that’s precisely what he did. The power forward collected it, skated in and picked his spot before unleashing a hard wrister, which turned the tide.

Ce trio à nouveau

The kid line strikes again#GoHabsGopic.twitter.com/41mTZED32I

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 29, 2025

A goal wasn’t enough for the Slovak, though; he also got the buzzer beater that sent the game to overtime with less than four seconds left in the frame, thanks to a perfectly timed feed from Demidov that he one-timed past Jonas Johansson.

4-4!!!

JURAJ SLAFKOVSKY, TIE GAME#GoHabsGopic.twitter.com/Acsy5Bs21s

— Canadiens Montréal (@CanadiensMTL) December 29, 2025

Slafkovsky finished the game with two goals and an assist, and he now has a five-game point streak going. Demidov had a goal and an assist, giving him a three-point lead in the rookie scoring race. As for Kapanen, he only got an assist, but he’s no passenger on that line.

When the Canadiens manage to have that same level of effort for 60 minutes, they’ll be quite a force to be reckoned with. While this wasn’t Jacob Fowler’s best game, he gave up four goals on 22 shots for just an .818 save percentage; he couldn’t be faulted on most of the goals. Will the Canadiens use this loss as a reason to send him back down to Laval? I’d be surprised since the loss wasn’t really on him, and I’d wait to see how Samuel Montembeault does in his first game back before making a change to the roster.

The Canadiens will play their next game on Tuesday, taking on the Florida Panthers at 7:00 PM.

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