Earth to Toronto Maple Leafs: What the hell was that?!
If you missed this game and I told you that with 14 minutes left in the third the game was tied, you’d probably be confused, but yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche were tied at three in the third period. They also had a 2-0 lead in the second period.
6-3 losses are always infuriating, the Leafs have lost by this score-line 95 times since 1918, but last night was that special pull the hair out of your head kind of game. The Leafs played the final 14 minutes like they were trying to drive a car with a dead battery. The players were frustrated, the coaches were frustrated, and some of Leafs Nation was frustrated, letting their voices be heard in the direction of Jake Gardiner.
Since hitting the 20 win plateau, the Maple Leafs are 8-7-2 and have lost substantial ground in the standings, with Boston (one point back) and Montréal (three points back) salivating at the chance to pass the Leafs in the standings.
For The Love Of Freddy Shoot The Puck!
On the broadcast last night, it was said that in their last 14 games the Maple Leafs had gone 5 for 38 on the power play (13%). Coming into the game, the Avalanche were the most penalized team in the NHL and their penalty kill was in the bottom five of the league. So with two power play opportunities last night, the formula should have equaled some goals for the Maple Leafs, right?
Wrong. The Leafs mustered three shots on net during their four minutes of power play time, and even allowed a short-handed goal to Carl Soderberg, who poked the puck into the Leafs zone, took it off the stick of Jake Gardiner and fired it past a returning Frederik Andersen.
The lack of shots on the power play also brought attention to the lack of total shots, all 20 of them, compared to the whopping 38 shots put on by the Avalanche. A play that epitomizes this came in the first period, when Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly were streaking in on a two-on-one. With the puck, Marner decides to attempt a pass to Rielly instead of using the blistering wrist shot we know he has to put the puck on net. Maybe it creates a rebound, maybe it goes in, but the play was lost since Marner was looking to set up Rielly instead.
The Leafs have some of the best snipers in the NHL but either they can’t find the right shooting lanes or they deliberately choose not to shoot, and with recent developments I’m beginning to sense they care more about play-making than putting the puck on net.
What Is Leafs Nations’ Favourite Cereal? Boo-Berry
But the stand out moment came when the folks at Scotiabank Arena brought the boos down upon the Leafs, particularly Jake Gardiner.
For those saying fans shouldn’t boo the players, try having to spend the most money in the NHL on tickets, watch your team lay an absolute dud in their tenth home loss of the year, and see one of their top defensemen have a game seven relapse, then come back to me and say you wouldn’t boo the players off the ice. As long as they don’t chuck a Bud Light can at the players, they can vocalize how they please.
Gardiner had a bad game, no denying it, he looked bad on more than just the short-handed goal, but the entire team had a bad night defensively. Pinning it solely on one player seems to be the way Leafs Nation likes to let off steam, whether at the game or on Twitter, where the “Trade a superstar for a right-handed D” crowd had a field day last night. Let the whole team hear your frustration, not the guy who will likely be in a different uniform next season.
I have been the one to trumpet the power of positivity after bad losses before, but last night’s loss didn’t come with too many positives. Andersen was left out to dry in his first game back, the offense could never find their groove after blowing a two-goal lead, and the defense was as bad as they were in game seven against Boston.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have allowed their comfortable lead in the standings evaporate under the pressure of the long NHL schedule. It’s almost like the Randy Carlyle mentality has never truly left this organization.