The Toronto Maple Leafs extend their losing streak to seven, as they get dominated from the very beginning against a strong Tampa Bay Lightning team, losing 5-2.
The Maple Leafs further prove that they are nowhere near a Stanley Cup contender, and simply can't compete against the league's best. This past seven-game stretch has been incredibly disappointing for management and staff, as they were only six points back with just over 20 games remaining. Hopes were high, as just one season ago, they won the Atlantic Division and were able to sweep Western Canada heading into the break.
Ideal start that couldn't mount to anything
Much of this game showcased the struggles of the season; they can't seem to string along consective strong shifts, and are often trailing the game's early with little to no momentum to get them back in the contest. Hockey Night in Canada started strong for the Maple Leafs, as Matias Maccelli opened the scoring with a goal after a great defensive effort by William Nylander. The hot start was noticed and recognized in the post-game by Max Domi as he said, “I thought we came out pretty good.” That was a huge goal, great play by William to Maccelli, and we weren’t able to sustain that same level of play after that. That’s a good team over there, and they’re going to get looks, but they capitalized. We had some too, but we gave up too much.”
Tampa Bay Lightning taking control of the game early
The Lightning then struck four times in the opening frame to take control of the hockey game. Anthony Stolarz summed up the remaining stages of the first period well, saying, “Just try to find our game, play a complete 60 minutes.” “We have stretches where we do play really well, and then there are a couple of times where we let it get away from us. We have 18 games left, so we have to battle and work through this. You hate to hear the boos with a minute left.” The Lightning were the clear-cut better team after this goal; instead of the Maple Leafs building on their opening goal, they lay back and let Tampa Bay control the game, and dictated the remainder of the game.
The rest of the contest was the Maple Leafs attempting to get back in the game and pressing for offence. Needing to score three straight goals against Andrei Vasilevskiy and getting past the Lightning's defensive core was proven to be a tough task; the Leafs were not able to answer. Over the Maple Leafs seven game losing streak, they have been outscored 32-14. The Leafs are back in action on Tuesday as they gear up for an Original Six matchup against the Montreal Canadiens.