BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Toronto Maple Leafs never wanted this, a peek at what life without Auston Matthews looks like.
But a sea change is a-swelling. These are strange times.
And here we are, in an Atlantic Division morphing into The Upside Down.
The mighty Buffalo Sabres selling out 11 straight games at KeyBank Center and winning again, the previously driest NHL market supplanting what was once the regular season’s most consistent.
“This is one of the first times I played here when it didn’t feel like a home game, which sucks because it’s nice to have our fans here. But good for Buffalo coming out. Pretty exciting building tonight,” said Toronto goaltender Joseph Woll, stellar in a 3-2 shootout loss.
As the beer-drinking Sabres guzzle up points and bender their way to an emphatic quenching of a 14-year post-season drought, Woll, like everyone in the Leafs organization, is still coming to grips with the fact that Toronto’s NHL-best playoff run will be ending at nine.
While the math has been less than kind for weeks now, a sense of finality to it all permeated the Western New York air Saturday like a frosty breeze whipping off the Welland Canal.
News that captain Auston Matthews would be gone till September, his left MCL torn Thursday by a greasy Radkos Gudas knee, hit the visitors’ room with a thud.
For the first time, head coach Craig Berube spoke of Toronto's “roller coaster” 2025-26 campaign in the past tense, lamenting that the team never got any traction and discussing the constant “noise" Matthews himself played through, until he could play no longer.
Gold medal notwithstanding, of course, the most disappointing NHL season of Matthews’ career — and his era of the Leafs — is over.
“Sucks. You know, he's world-class player, and he’s our captain, and he’s an awesome guy to be around,” Woll lamented. “Just really sucks.”
“He's a big part of our team. Maybe the biggest, being the captain,” echoed Dakota Joshua. “He’s one of the best players in the world, so he’s going to be missed on any team. But just all the more reason to stick together and try to find wins without him.”
So, after GM Brad Treliving’s overtures to the league for a stiffer Gudas suspension fall on deaf ears, and while the club waits with crossed fingers in hopes that Matthews’s knee won’t require surgery to recover in time for training camp, there are still hockey games to be played.
What can the healthy Leafs learn about themselves? What can management discover about combinations that might work and which pieces are willing to?
Subtract its top centre, and Toronto’s offence lacks punch.
Even an untrained eye can spot that.
The hardworking John Tavares looked engaged but overextended on this night. And William Nylander — now sporting an A on his sweater — was the most dangerous-looking Leaf by a county mile.
The team’s leading scorer rightly led all Leafs forwards in ice time (21:18) and set up Max Domi with saucer pass so buttery that Domi quipped a beat reporter could’ve converted on the tap-in.
But even with inspired performances by role players like Joshua, Domi (skating in career game 800), Nick Robertson, and callup Bo Groulx, the Leafs’ depth up front took a back seat to Buffalo’s attack.
The Sabres outshot the Leafs 33-18 in total and, more concerning, 10-2 in the third period.
If Toronto has any chance of tilting the ice, it will need to rely on effort and physicality — two categories in which they’ve faced criticism this season.
Kudos, then, for competing hard and grinding out a point against a more confident Sabres squad. That required Woll’s being locked in and the Leafs out-shot-blocking (22-9) and outhitting (35-21) their QEW rivals.
“We’re always try to instill it. We talk about it a lot. I thought we were physical tonight, which is good. We have to be physical. I mean, I’ve been preaching it all year, to be honest with you,” Berube said.
“I want our team to be physical. I know there’s different guys that play differently. But that doesn’t mean every player can’t get on the body and take the body. It slows the other team down. It creates turnovers. It does a lot of good.”
The Maple Leafs were once a high-flying, highlight-reel machine.
Today, with Mitch Marner long gone, Matthews done for the season, and most of its other elite players on the wrong age of prime, the show amounts to Nylander and a stunned, frustrated surrounding cast with plenty to prove and, as a team, not much to play for.
“It’s tough to lose a guy like that for the year,” Berube said. “Nobody’s happy about it. But we got to move on and get ready to play. I mean, there’s nothing we can do about it now, right?”
“Kind of gut wrenching,” Woll added. “At this point, just hope the best for his healing and hope he comes back strong and ready to go next year.”
If Saturday’s preview is any indication, they need him.
And plenty more.
“This is obviously a tough time of year, and we would love to have him here. But, unfortunately, that’s hockey and stuff like that happens,” said Domi, a good friend of Matthews. “I know he wants to be out there just as bad as anyone, and he’s cheering us on.
“He’s our leader. He's our captain. He’s our best player, and he wants to be in the mud with us here.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Steven Lorentz was never healthy-scratched in his first year as a Leaf. The fourth-liner earned a three-year contract for his efforts.
This season is a different story.
Lorentz has occasionally been commissioned to the press box, and this week the club is playing pending UFA Calle Järnkrok and Marlies forwards Michael Pezzetta, Bo Groulx, and Jacob Quillan ahead of him.
“I think he’s lost his confidence, and it’s been kind of an ongoing thing this year with him,” Berube explains. “He’s been a real good penalty killer for us.
“But his 5-on-5 play, for me, is not enough. Not aggressive enough, and not playing with enough confidence out there.”
• Nick Robertson quietly set new career highs in assists (15) and points (28) with plenty of runway left.
As a restricted free agent (again), Robertson’s qualifying offer is a modest $1.825 million. You don’t let him walk for nothing.
• Nice little flow chart by the fine folks at PuckPedia explains what can happen to the 2026 and 2027 first-round picks Toronto has traded away:
• Fun fact: The Maple Leafs have registered a fighting major in four straight games for the first time since March 2013.
Dakota Joshua, who was scratched for the Anaheim game, threw down early with Luke Schenn.
“Just trying to be more physical out there. Schenner’s a tough customer and willing combatant, so we went at it,” said Joshua, who played as teammates with the veteran defenceman in Vancouver.
“It’s tough. Obviously, we’re still friends, but it’s weird. But at the end of the day, we’re here to do a job, and he’s a very respectable guy, and we’re still good after that.”
• Jake McCabe on the Leafs waiting until the third period and Matthews’ MCL tear Thursday to up their physicality and engagement with the Anaheim Ducks:
“Unfortunate that that’s what it took for us to play like we did finally after that stretch of games.”
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