After squandering a 2-0 series lead, the Maple Leafs are now on the brink of elimination, down 3-2 in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Follow updates ahead of Game 6, as well as live commentary from the Star’s Bruce Arthur once the puck drops.
Passing on the 'passion': How Leafs fans buckled up for this playoff run by taking on a wrestling-inspired tradition
It started with the team. After every win, a Maple Leafs player would hoist a WWE-style belt, passed from one to the next. It was a symbol of grit. A sign of effort. A badge of honour.
But this playoff run, the tradition has spilled into the stands.
Dubbed the “Passion Belt” online, the Leafs introduced the replica championship strap for fans before the playoffs began. Fans across the city — and beyond — have been passing it from one superfan to another after every game, win or lose, celebrating team spirit and forming a unique connection with the club.
Even after a trying season, Maple Leafs defenceman Jani Hakanpää has plenty to smile about
If there’s one thing that stands out about Jani Hakanpää, the Maple Leafs’ always-injured free agent signing, it’s the ever-present smile on his face.
The big Finnish defender is staring down the inevitable: The end of his NHL career.
So he’s doing what he can to enjoy what remains of it. He’s practising with the Maple Leafs extras and has sat in the press box as a Black Ace through the playoffs.
“It’s just it’s nice to be out with the boys,” Hakanpää said in a recent interview. “You get a little extra pep in your step when you’re playing around with the fellas.”
Maple Leafs change lineup for Game 6 against Panthers, but double down on Matthews-Marner duo
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—What’s old is new again as Pontus Holmberg and Calle Järnkrok are expected to return to the Maple Leafs lineup for tonight’s Game 6 against the Florida Panthers after being scratched Game 5.
“We’ve played good hockey with the lineup we have tonight,” said Leafs coach Craig Berube.
Nick Robertson and David Kämpf, who got into Game 5, will be scratched.
The lines at the morning skate had a familiar feel. Berube said he thought about breaking up his two biggest stars — Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner — but had them together on a line with Matthew Knies.
“These guys have been a combo for a long time and they’ve had a lot of success,” said Berube. “So I trust them. I believe in them.”
Opinion: The good news for Game 6? The Leafs usually find a way to win when everybody gives up on them
pc28Maple Leafs fans watch the final minutes of the game as the pc28Maple Leafs fall to the Florida Panthers 6-1 in game five in the second round of the NHL Stanley Cup play-offs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. May 14, 2025.
Steve Russell pc28StarIt wasn’t a death blow, but the Maple Leafs’ humiliating 6-1 loss to the Panthers on Wednesday certainly left another pc28hockey season wheezing on its death bed, and the Shanaplan era on life support.
But if there’s a reason for the Leafs to believe in the plausibility of a miraculous recovery — they are down 3-2 to the defending Stanley Cup champions from South Florida — it’s probably written in their recent history. We’re not talking about the history of playing so poorly in important playoff games that they get booed off the ice in their own building. We’re referring to the history of what’s sometimes followed such low moments, of which there have been a few.
We’ve seen this happen before: When all of Leafs Nation is partaking in their social-media desecration, the Leafs have historically found a supply of on-ice desperation. When all appears lost, the Leafs have defied expectations and won — never a series, mind you, but at least a game or two.
Opinion: I used to love watching Leafs games in Florida. But after a dark turn at the Panthers’ arena, I don’t think I can go back
Stephen Grant’s view of Joseph Woll in net for the pc28Maple Leafs at the Toronto-Florida playoff game earlier this week in Sunrise, Fla.
Stephen Grant photo“Hey, welcome back. Are you the 51st state, yet?” My feet hadn’t even touched the ground of my driveway. That was the greeting I received from a neighbour on Day 1 of my annual trip to Florida.
Game four of the second round and I was determined to fly the Leafs colours and drive the two-hour, mind-numbing, high-speed straightway to Sunrise, Fla., on a highway appropriately named Alligator Alley.
I arrived at Amerant Bank Arena to find a sea of Florida Panther red jerseys and the atmosphere on the walk from my car to the arena was great; there was no trash talk because I assumed they’re used to seeing Leaf fans at their home games. This game was no different. Or was it?
I was wearing my Leafs jersey (of course) as I settled in to my seat behind the Florida net for the first period, just eight rows from the ice — but I wasn’t in Kansas anymore, or Scotiabank Arena for that matter.
The Leafs believe 'they're right in the fight' — but does their coach agree?
Their fans might have given up on them. Their critics are ready to say, “I told you so.” And some of the Maple Leafs might be secretly thinking, “Not again.”
But Toronto’s hockey heroes, who have seen a 2-0 series advantage turn into a 3-2 deficit, are saying the right things, at least outwardly.
“Whether we lost the way we lost (by five goals) or we lost in overtime, whatever it is, we’re still in a position where we’re right in the fight,” defenceman Morgan Rielly said as the team gathered at the Ford Performance Centre before jetting to Florida for Friday’s Game 6. “We’ve got to go down there, we’ve got to play our best game.
Opinion: Leafs set new high-water mark for failure in Game 5
Leafs forwards Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies, left to right, during the third period of Game 5 on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
Nathan Denette/The Canadian PressThe core question for the Maple Leafs — or the question about the core — has always been simple. Does scar tissue make you tougher, or leave you weak? Over and over, Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and the organization believed their best players would use the fuel of disappointment to reach new heights. They believed the context around the core could be adjusted — coaches, goalies, defence pairings, depth forwards — but at the heart of it they hoped for great players who were steely, hungry, and mature, and could rise up under the pressure. That was the hope.
It hasn’t happened. It keeps not happening. pc28has a free-refill buffet of playoff failure to choose from, but their 6-1 loss to Florida in Game 5 was probably the worst big-game performance this team has ever delivered, if you had to choose. It didn’t end the series, but it put the franchise on the edge, in more ways than one. You can see the end of an era from here.
“(The Panthers) were fast, they were honest, they were hungrier,” Leafs coach Craig Berube said Wednesday night, in the immediate aftermath. “I don’t think they came any harder than they have, to be honest with you. I think we let ‘em come tonight. I mean, we stood around and watched. You can’t do that.”
Maple Leafs post-Game 5 notebook
Inside the cavernous confines of the Ford Performance Centre on a cloudless Thursday morning, the few Maple Leafs players and personnel in the building were left to pick up the pieces of a crushing 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers and adjust to the reality of having their backs against the wall for the first time this NHL post-season.
Head coach Craig Berube was blunt in his assessment of what went wrong in Game 5 of their best-of-seven series Wednesday night that put his team in a 3-2 hole: The Leafs were constantly overthinking their play.
“We didn’t move our feet, we didn’t compete. We were tentative in the game, you can’t play like that,” Berube said. “We’ll be a lot better in Game 6.”
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