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Bobby McMann, Toronto Maple Leafs (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Can the Maple Leafs Make Their Grit Sustainable?

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By The Old Prof | Last updated Nov 8, 2025 9:50 AM ET

A few games ago, the Toronto Maple Leafs were left for dead — trailing 3–0 to the Pittsburgh Penguins after forty miserable minutes of hockey. Then, out of nowhere, came one of those nights that remind you why people still believe in this team (whether they want to any more or not). The Maple Leafs roared back with four unanswered goals and stole a 4–3 win.

It wasn’t just a victory; it was a statement.

Since then, they’ve beaten a tough Utah Mammoth team and, in doing so, have shown flashes of a team that might finally have found something real. Tonight, they will be visited by their old Original Six opponent, the Boston Bruins. The Bruins have won five games in a row, so this should be a good one.

Can the Maple Leafs Make Their Gritty Change Last?

Can the Maple Leafs continue their brief turnaround? Who’s to say? But if fans of the Blue & White have learned anything over the years, it’s this: the Maple Leafs have turned corners before, only to drive straight into another wall.

So how do they keep this one from vanishing like the others? What has to change for the comeback to become a beginning — not just another highlight reel memory?

First, to Keep Moving Forward, the Maple Leafs Must Build on Leadership, Not Wait for It

The Pittsburgh win was all about the stars. Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and Morgan Rielly decided enough was enough. They dragged the team into the fight. Against Utah, that same attitude carried over.

That’s good — but not good enough. The Maple Leafs can’t afford to wait for their leaders to “find it” each night. Sustained success happens when effort trickles down, not up. Players like Matias Maccelli, Bobby McMann, and Nicholas Robertson need to keep seeing themselves as contributors, not passengers.

In a sense, head coach Craig Berube’s challenge is to turn the stars’ response into a team-wide reflex. Matthews and Nylander have shown what belief looks like. The question is whether everyone else wants to live up to that example.

Second, to Keep Moving Forward, the Maple Leafs Must Bottle the Berube Effect

Whatever Berube said in that Pittsburgh dressing room worked. You could see it — structure, emotion, and a kind of anger that’s been missing from this team for seasons, perhaps. The Maple Leafs didn’t just react; they responded with purpose.

But emotional hockey has a short shelf life if it isn’t built on habits. Berube’s job now is to make urgency normal. Not the kind of panic that comes from losing, but the kind of pride that comes from refusing to be embarrassed. It has to become a way of living on the ice, game after game.

If he can create a culture where the players hold each other to that standard — before he has to light the fire — then maybe this really is a different team.

Third, to Keep Moving Forward, the Maple Leafs Must Keep the Depth Engaged

What separated that comeback from others was who finished it. McMann scored the winner. Robertson set it up with hustle. Maccelli came through against his old team, the Mammoth. Those are players who don’t always get the microphone, but they’re the ones who win playoff games when stars are neutralized.

If Toronto’s depth players can stay relevant, this team’s ceiling rises dramatically. That means Berube needs to keep giving them rope — and they need to keep justifying it. Every night can’t be a star show. Sometimes it’s about the grinders making life easier for the elite.

The Hardest Part for the Maple Leafs? Consistency

Fans have been here before. They’ve seen the Maple Leafs respond, push back, and then drift. The challenge isn’t to prove they can play like that — it’s to prove they will.

If this really is the turning point, it won’t be because of one furious period against Pittsburgh or a tidy win over Utah. It’ll be because they finally understood what those games revealed: that pride and pace aren’t optional.

The comeback against the Penguins was thrilling. The follow-up was promising. The next few weeks will tell us if this team has finally found something it’s been missing for years — the discipline to stay good when no one’s doubting them.

Maple Leafs Fans Guard Their Hearts

If you’ve followed this team for any stretch of time, you’ve learned to guard your heart. Hope with the Maple Leafs is a fragile thing — it gets built, broken, and rebuilt again, season after season. But there’s something to be said for the nights that make you believe, even a little. Maybe that third-period spark in Pittsburgh was one of them.

If the players can learn what their fans already learned over many seasons — that faith is earned, not granted — then perhaps this time, the turn might finally lead somewhere.