Maple Leafs Insist They’ll Turn Things Around After Another Loss to a Losing Team
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Line shuffling, a strategic timeout and broken sticks aren’t stopping the Toronto Maple Leafs from losing to losing teams as road trip ends in nightmarish fashion.
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Throughout their five-game road trip, the Toronto Maple Leafs put on a brave face and have insisted that their current slide is not like the one they experienced last season where they started 2-4-1 and tensions were running highs.
They’re right, but not in the way they thought. It’s actually worse.
“This is a tough one to swallow,” Auston Matthews said.
On Sunday, the Maple Leafs fell to the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3 in overtime to match their season-long four-game losing streak from a year ago. Although a 4-4-2 record may not be cause for concern on the surface, Toronto has yet to play against a team this season that won a playoff round in 2022.
Toronto held a 3-1 lead early in the third period, but squandered it after goals from Trevor Zegras and Dmitry Kulikov forced overtime and Zegras picked up his second goal of the game to win it in overtime.
“These things are tough to turn around and tough to get out of, but it’s important to not be discouraged, not lose confidence,” defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “We’re going to just keep going until we right the ship.”
Looking to rebound from a loss against the Los Angeles Kings one night prior, Toronto began the day by shuffling up their forward lines. Head coach Sheldon Keefe refused to reveal his lineup during his pre-game availability and had all 23 active roster players take the warmup before jumbling every line outside of their top line, consisting of Michael Bunting and stars Matthews, Mitch Marner.
To Toronto’s credit. They started well. Matthews’ scored on the power play to open the scoring. But Marner became a focal point early on when he committed the first of two turnovers that led to goals
The first one occurred when Marner pass to Mark Giordano in his own end was intercepted. That led to a goal from Anaheim’s Jakob Silfverberg.
Toronto took a 2-1 lead going into the first intermission after Denis Malgin connected with his new linemates for the team’s lone even-strength tally.
It was, by all statistical accounts, a good first period for the Leafs. They pushed the pace of play and had an even strength expected goals share of 67 percent.
But it seemed to come undone in the second period, even though neither team scored. The Ducks narrowed the shots gap and evened things out with an expected goals share of 56 percent.
Despite the lousy middle frame, the Leafs held their lead into the third. They opened the frame shorthanded after Matthews took a penalty to save a goal from teammate Filip Kral’s turnover. Calle Jarnkrok scored shorthanded after he was set up by Alex Kerfoot and an outlet pass before that from TJ Brodie for a 3-1 lead, but things went south quickly.
At 6:27, the Leafs were gifted a penalty shot when the refs determined Kerfoot was hooked by Cam Fowler. Kerfoot missed.
Less than a minute later, Zegras scores the first of his two goals when another Marner turnover leads to a goal.
The Ducks continued to press for a few more shifts. That prompted head coach Sheldon Keefe to call a timeout and appears to specifically point at Marner’s two mistakes that led to goals.
“Everybody has to be responsible for their touch of the puck, Keefe said of the turnovers. “Both were well-intentioned and everything like that, it’s just, they’re tough plays. We gotta manage those plays better.”
Marner, later grabbed a stick and destroyed it in frustration. before coming back. Having missed just one shift.
“I put a lot on my shoulders, put a lot of pressure on myself and I wasn’t happy with that second turnover especially,” Marner said. “I want to make sure I’m doing better than that and helping this team win better than that.”
But the Leafs didn’t respond well to the timeout. Kulikov scored the tying goal shortly after. The Ducks thought they have the winning goal from Frank Vatrano in regulation time, but the Maple Leafs successfully challenge for goaltender interference.
In overtime, Marner had a chance to redeem himself with a path to the net, but Ducks goaltender John Gibson robs him. Moments later, Zegras scores the overtime winner.
The Ducks picked up just their second win of the season as the Maple Leafs continue to lose to teams they were heavily favoured against, putting the focus back on Keefe.
After losses against the Montreal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes, he called out his players. He walked the comments back and it has come to a point where you wonder if he’s starting to become tuned out.
“I’m just going focus on what I can do here,” Keefe said when asked about his position. “I got a job to do with the group. Our group has responded in the past. I thought we were responding well here today.”
The reality is his team had responded well to timeouts he has called in the past. In the immediate aftermath, his team gave up a tying goal and had the winning tally in regulation called back by goalie interference.
The noise is tuned up and you wonder if the players are going to dig themselves out of it with some steep competition coming home.
Their saving grace this time around was that their last four performances, as bad as they were, were not at home. The crowd heavily booed them off the ice at the end of the second period on Oct. 17 against the Coyotes.
It could get a lot noisier if similar efforts like the ones the Leafs put forth in Vegas and California continue.
“We started off a lot worse last year and everyone tried to put shambles in our brains,” Marner said. “It’s not gonna happen with us. We’re going home. Time to regroup.”