TORONTO \u2014 John Tavares and his teammates opened the NHL season with plenty of hope.<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s sports scene was buzzing. The Blue Jays were in the early stages of what would turn into a memorable run to the World Series.<\/p>\n
The Maple Leafs, meanwhile, had made the second round of the playoffs just the second time in the league\u2019s salary cap era back in the spring. <\/p>\n
Sure, star winger Mitch Marner had bolted town, but the Original Six club still found itself among the Stanley Cup favourites with a core led by captain Auston Matthews and supported by Tavares and fellow star forward William Nylander.<\/p>\n
Things went off the rails quickly. Now it\u2019s almost time for the autopsy after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n
Toronto (32-35-14) closed out its home schedule Monday with an entertaining, mistake-filled 6-5 loss to the Dallas Stars (49-20-12) where the Maple Leafs had built a 3-0 lead by the first intermission and led 5-3 midway through the third.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you know it\u2019s the last home game, it\u2019s not a good sign,\u201d said the 35-year-old Tavares. \u201cIn some ways, tough coming in today knowing this was the last routine you\u2019re going through, opportunity to go play in front of your fans. In some ways it\u2019s difficult, but you try to go out there and put your best foot forward. <\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, it was some of the same for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Head coach Craig Berube, whose future is unclear beyond Wednesday\u2019s finale in Ottawa against the Senators, lamented another night where crucial errors cost his group.<\/p>\n
The playoff-bound Stars, meanwhile, became just the sixth team in NHL history \u2014 and first in almost 40 years \u2014 to overcome three-goal and two-goal deficits in the same game en route to a regulation win.<\/p>\n
Despite the bitterly frustrating season, fans still on hand at Scotiabank Arena gave the players a nice ovation after the final buzzer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe support in Toronto is fabulous,\u201d said Berube, whose club finished 18-15-8 on home ice. \u201cIt\u2019s been fabulous for as long as I can remember, and it\u2019s going to continue to be fabulous. It\u2019s a great hockey market, it\u2019s a great sports town. The fans are awesome here.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a special place.\u201d <\/p>\n
Another member of the organization with clouds of uncertainty is defenceman Morgan Rielly. The longest-serving member of the current roster with 950 games across 13 campaigns, there are questions about his future with a club that will look to a chart its path once a new brain trust is in place following general manager Brad Treliving\u2019s firing last month.<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old Rielly, who has four seasons left on a contract that carries a US$7.5-million salary cap hit, would have to agree to a trade out of Toronto, but he was asked following the morning skate if he\u2019d thought about Monday potentially being his last home game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s crossed my mind,\u201d Rielly told reporters. \u201cAll athletes have that at some point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tavares called the blueliner \u201cone of the most selfless teammates\u201d he\u2019s played alongside.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way he handles himself day-to-day, the way he puts the team first, and how much he cares about each and every individual,\u201d Tavares said post-game as the Maple Leafs fell to 0-5-1 over their last six. \u201cAnd you talk about the level of hockey\u2019s played for an extended period of time. With where we\u2019re at this season, it\u2019s pretty obvious everyone\u2019s got to look themselves in the mirror. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t come close to where we wanted to get to, so that\u2019s on everyone. He\u2019d be the first guy to put his hand in the air saying, \u2018I gotta be better. I got to find ways to improve my game\u2019 \u2014 especially as a leader to continue to push forward and find ways to push the group to where we need it to go.\u201d <\/p>\n
Lottery talk<\/p>\n
The Maple Leafs will surrender their first-round pick at June\u2019s NHL draft to an Atlantic Division rival, the Boston Bruins, if it falls in the top-5 after the lottery. <\/p>\n
Tavares was asked what it was like to a play on a night where many of Toronto\u2019s fans were hoping for a loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere should be an extreme amount of pride to play in this league, to play this game, and to wear the crest that we\u2019re wearing,\u201d he said. \u201cI try to approach each game the same, no matter the circumstances, the challenges, the spot you\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Final bow<\/p>\n
Legendary longtime play-by-play man Joe Bowen called his final Maple Leafs home game after 43 years working in radio and television.<\/p>\n
The 75-year-old was honoured in the third period with a video tribute and raucous standing ovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cExtremely special,\u201d Tavares said. \u201cCouldn\u2019t be more well-deserved. He\u2019ll be in Leafs lore for forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2026.<\/p>\n
Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 John Tavares and his teammates opened the NHL season with plenty of hope. Toronto\u2019s sports scene…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-603438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}