Squaring off with nearly identical records entering Wednesday’s contest, the Toronto Maple Leafs were presented with a key opportunity to get out of a rut against a quality Minnesota Wild team, with a four-game road trip on the horizon before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ Core Four players, John Tavares, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Mitch Marner, are not just elite scorers. Together they are four players who, game after game, show a high hockey IQ.

John Hynes knows that William Nylander can lead the Maple Leafs out of the little hole they’ve dug for themselves. The Leafs have scored just two goals in losing their past two games, and neither came off the stick of Nylander after the star winger had four goals in the previous three games, all Toronto victories.

Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube details how the team plans to move forward without the injured John Tavares.

Slugging from behind the entire evening, and balanced on the usual mid-season fan revolt, the Toronto Maple Leafs won their first game in more than a week on Thursday. William Nylander scored the overtime goal that put away the New Jersey Devils, led by former Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe.

The Toronto Maple Leafs called up Fraser Minten from the Toronto Marlies on Thursday morning. Following an injury to John Tavares at practice on Wednesday, it made sense for the club to call up their prospect center who has played in the third-line center spot previously.

January 17 - William Nylander scored his second goal ... Ekman-Larsson was off for hooking. Toronto put John Tavares (lower-body injury) on injured reserve and activated McCabe, who had sat ...

You can look to John Tavares and Matthew Knies’ imminent returns and hope they can spark the lineup, but this is still a team with Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner. Offence should not be this difficult and they have the raw talent to at least make games interesting. Tonight was far from it.

Identifying the holes in the Leafs' lineup is fairly straightforward. Patching them at the trade deadline? Much less so.

Morgan Rielly is used to contributing with the puck on his stick. The Maple Leafs defenceman had a career-high 68 points a couple of years back and chipped in another 58 last season as part of a well-oiled attack.

Speaking on “Spittin’ Chiclets”, host Paul Bissonnette suggested that if the Toronto Maple Leafs struggle with Mitch Marner’s contract negotiations, the team should shift gears and turn their attention to the recently traded Mikko Rantanen.

This is an emotional week as the Marc-Andre Fleury farewell tour nears its end. After backing up Filip Gustavsson’s 3-1 win on Wednesday night in Toronto, his final home province scheduled start is Thursday in Montreal with upwards of 100 relatives and friends coming to send off the future Hall of Famer.