Crag Berube was forced to shuffle the Leafs' lines at practice ahead of Wednesday's game against the Minnesota Wild with the imminent return of Max Pacioretty.

Pacioretty missed the last three games after taking a puck to the head in a game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Losers of three straight and starved for offense, some new statistics show that the Leafs need to make a trade to add some firepower if they want any success.

Against Minnesota, William Nylander provided Toronto’s lone goal. The defeat marked the team’s third straight regulation loss, a tough stretch before the Maple Leafs embark on a four-game Western Canada trip leading up to the 4 Nations Face-Off pause.

Jared Spurgeon and Marat Khusnutdinov scored in the first period and Filip Gustavsson stopped 31 shots for Minnesota.

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.

Jared Spurgeon scored what turned out to be the winning goal in the first period and the visiting Minnesota Wild went on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Wednesday night.

Filip Gustavsson made 32 saves for the Minnesota Wild in a 3-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday. “We had really strong work ethic,” Minnesota coach John Hynes said.

Facing another month-plus without their star forward, the Wild set the blueprint for how to win without Kaprizov.

Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves as the Minnesota Wild edged Toronto 3-1 on Wednesday, sending the Maple Leafs to a third straight regulation loss.

Filip Gustavsson made 31 saves as the Minnesota Wild edged Toronto 3-1 on Wednesday, sending the Maple Leafs to a third straight regulation loss.

Leafs answered our poll. In part 1, we reveal the teammates most Leafs would like to be stuck with in an elevator, and more.