Maple Leafs can’t shake early stink, lose crucial game to Panthers

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Fitting that the centre-ice scoreboard briefly went dark during the second period on Thursday night at Amerant Bank Arena.

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It was an apt, though not deliberate, comment on the Maple Leafs’ season and where it’s going.

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The Leafs couldn’t recover after a horrendous first period, digging themselves into a three-goal hole, against the Florida Panthers and lost 5-1 in Sunrise.

Up in Boston, the Bruins, owners of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference, beat the Columbus Blue Jackets to increase their lead over the Leafs to eight points.

The four-team group between the Leafs and Bruins now includes the Panthers who, like Toronto, have 63 points, but a better points percentage.

“We have no time to take shifts off and periods off,” coach Craig Berube told the media after the game. “We’re not in that mode.  It’s always hard (to maintain confidence). It’s my job to instill that confidence in our guys.

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“I stay confident. I know what these guys are capable of doing. I have to get it out of them.”

It’s too late for that now, isn’t it? We think so. The Leafs are one of the worst defensive teams in the NHL. There’s no switch to be flipped.

John Tavares scored a power-play goal early in the third period, but the Leafs got nothing more past goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, who had a solid night before Brad Marchand, with his second of the game, and Matthew Tkachuk scored into an empty Leafs net.

Our takeaways:

WHAT’S MATTHEWS THINKING?

After failing to score for the sixth consecutive game, his longest drought of 2025-26, Leafs captain Auston Matthews answered questions like it was the middle of the season and the team still had a believable shot of making the playoffs.

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Matthews’ time in Toronto has been marked by many positives, but also a reluctance or inability on his part to take honest stock of the situation at hand and his role, or lack thereof, in it.

“You’d like to have more of a 60-minute effort,” Matthews told the media afterward. “I’d say our start was the big issue tonight.”

That’s quite the revelation. But there was more.

“I think we should have had the energy and the desperation that we need to start the game that we had in the second and third period,” Matthews said, confirming what everyone in the building and watching at home saw.

Where is Matthews’ concern level, considering the back-to-back losses coming out of the Olympic break and where the Leafs are in the standings?

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“I don’t think ‘concern’ is the right word,” Matthews said. “I just think we need more desperation, more fire, especially to start games. We know the position we’re in and we need to be a more desperate team.”

If ‘concern’ isn’t the right word, then what is?

The Leafs’ next game, at home on Saturday against the Ottawa Senators, will be their 60th.

And, yet, Matthews still is talking about the need to play with fire and desperation.

Memo to the captain: If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s not going to.

Anyways, the Leafs don’t have a firm grasp on the definition of urgency, for if they did, they might have played with some from the opening faceoff. The players love talking about what they need to do and then don’t do it, or are unable to.

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Either way, it was the worst first 20 minutes of the season for Toronto.

The Panthers built a 3-0 lead, outshot the Leafs 16-6 and had a 32-9 advantage in attempts. The loose, soft and slow Leafs didn’t win battles and continuously gave up the puck, leading to two Florida goals.

Evan Rodrigues intercepted a William Nylander pass in the neutral zone and scored short-handed for the Panthers’ third goal at 16:40. Rodrigues outshot all of the Leafs 7-6 in the first.

A Matthew Knies giveaway led to a Marchand goal at 3:18 before Carter Verhaeghe made it 2-0 on a power play at 5:13.

In the Leafs net, Joseph Woll was unable to bail out his teammates.

SELL, SELL, SELL

We’ve written previously that general manager Brad Treliving has to start stocking up for the future — even if he’s not around to see it after the season ends — in the days that remain before the March 6 NHL trade deadline.

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The Leafs didn’t need to give their GM any more reasons to start shipping players out, but they provided one against the Panthers.

The goal for Treliving shouldn’t be working on new contracts for unrestricted free agents such as Bobby McMann and Scott Laughton. It should be learning what can come back in a trade for one or both of them.

Ditto for players who are under contract beyond this season, such as Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

Of course, it should go without saying that Treliving has to get value in return in any trade he makes. Or, at least, what appears to be value today.

GET COWAN IN

Easton Cowan sat out for the fifth game in a row. There’s absolutely no reason he should not be in the lineup against Ottawa. The rookie has to get into action and, with the Leafs in a tailspin, show some confidence in the kid and see what he can do.

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“I don’t believe his development is getting hurt,” Berube said. “I think he’s improved as the year went along. I think he still has the swagger that’s needed. He is a confident kid.

“Saying that, he has to get in there and play, and that’s our job to get him in there at some point.”

Then do it. The Leafs, whether it’s Berube or Treliving or both, are overthinking this and where Cowan fits in. The 20-year-old is capable.

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tkoshan@postmedia.com

X: @koshtorontosun

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