Maple Leafs top Wings in regular-season finale; Toronto set to meet Ottawa in playoffs

Toronto Maple Leafs' Pontus Holmberg (29) moves the puck around Detroit Red Wings' Moritz Seider (53) during the second period of their NHL game on Thursday, April 17, 2025 in Toronto. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jon Blacker

TORONTO — Scott Laughton scored 56 seconds into overtime as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in the regular-season finale for both teams Thursday.

Auston Matthews, Philippe Myers and Chris Tanev had the other goals for Toronto (52-26-4). Joseph Woll stopped 31 shots. Mitch Marner had two assists.

Justin Holl, with a goal and an assist against his former team, Austin Watson and Alex DeBrincat replied for Detroit (39-35-8). Cam Talbot made 16 saves.

The game meant nothing in the standings with all eight NHL playoff matchups set.

The Leafs won the Atlantic Division and will host the Ottawa Senators in Game 1 on Sunday. The Wings, meanwhile, missed the playoffs for a ninth consecutive campaign.

Toronto, which is in the post-season for the ninth straight time, now heads into the league’s annual Stanley Cup tournament looking to win a series for just the second time in the league’s salary-cap era.

Holl was part of the Leafs’ organization from 2015 to 2023 before the defenceman signed with the Wings in free agency.

Takeaways

Leafs: Head coach Craig Berube said following Thursday’s morning skate he expects injured defencemen Jake McCabe (undisclosed) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (undisclosed), along with centre David Kampf (upper-body), to be available for Game 1.

Wings: The club qualified for the playoffs over 25 consecutive seasons from 1990-91 through 2015-16 before its current dry run. The Buffalo Sabres are the only NHL club with a longer drought at 14 seasons.

Key moment

Tanev scored his third goal of the season with 1.8 seconds left in regulation to tie the game after Toronto trailed 3-1 entering the third period.

Key stat

The Leafs topped their division for just the third time in the league’s post-1967 expansion era, and the first time in a full season since 1999-00.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2025.