Poor start and finish dooms Maple Leafs against hot Canucks
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Published Jan 20, 2024 • Last updated 19 minutes ago • 4 minute read
Canucks defenceman Filip Hronek (17) shoves Maple Leafs forward Tyler Bertuzzi (59) during the second period of a game at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. Photo by Derek Cain /Getty Images
Hockey Day In Canada came up sunshine and roses for Thatcher Demko, but a nightmare for Martin Jones.
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Not that Jones’ Maple Leafs were very supportive at the start or finish of a 6-4 loss to the brash, league-leading Vancouver Canucks, but Jones was lit up in his backyard on 21 shots.
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Twice the Leafs came back in the fiery contest, including a three-goal rush in the middle period, before stumbling into three straight penalties in the third. Two of those resulted in goals by J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson, while the Leafs own chances on the power play were snuffed by Demko, who made 42 saves in his sixth career win over Toronto.
“A bit of a theme with their goals, out-competing us around our net,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “At worst, the rest of the game, it was even. As much as we fight back, which I love, you can’t spot three and expect to win, especially a top team in the league.”
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Big picture, the Leafs have lost two of three on this Western trip, with one to go in Seattle and a concerning five of the past six games. Keefe knows the offence will eventually show up every night, but not necessarily at puck drop to set the pace, while there’s something amiss below the hashmarks, a struggle to break out of five-on-five pressure.
Part of the special teams’ struggle is due to captain John Tavares’ overall slump, zeroes through seven games, his worst run in a decade. He did win a series of faceoffs with the net empty and led the Leafs at 13-of-20 on the night, but no goals resulted, even from six forwards on a 6-on-3.
Mitch Marner blocked a third-period power-play rocket from Pettersson and right after jumped on a fumbled pass for a breakaway tying goal. It was his sixth season netting at least 20 and Toronto’s first goal in a third period since its back-to-back wins over San Jose.
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But Max Domi was in the box seconds later for an obvious crosscheck and this time, J.T. Miller was parked perfectly to bank a Pettersson slap-pass in. Pettersson got his own with Mark Giordano serving a retaliation minor.
Before their big guns sounded, the Canucks had generated 10 points from their bottom six forwards, another reason they’re so hot this season, not relying on Pettersson, Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser.
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But from a secure 3-0 lead less than 13 minutes in, coach Rick Tocchet was forced to call a time-out less than halfway through the game when Toronto buried three of its own.
William Nylander, from a long screen and another off of Canuck Carson Soucy’s stick, scored his first two since signing the big contract extension to reach 200 in the NHL. In between, defenceman Jake McCabe jumped into an Auston Matthews–Marner rush undetected and finished the latter’s pass.
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The Leafs knew the revived Canucks are full marks for first overall, as Scarborough-born Tocchet reached his 82nd game with more than 50 wins and have settled in for a long home stand.
That confidence was on display when Toronto’s third line was trapped in its zone for a full minute early in the proceedings. It resulted in a weary Giordano not able to get to Nils Hoglander on a rebound — the same player was uncovered for a great shot under the bar three minutes later.
Jones, the North Vancouver native, who hoped for so much better in this start, was unable to corral another rebound from Canucks’ hustle that eventually went to Conor Garland for the 3-0 lead. It’s likely the Leafs turn to Ilya Samsonov in net on Sunday against the Kraken, bringing him along slowly from a disastrous first half of the season.
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A Leafs power play after the second Hoglander goal failed to register a shot, while another resulting from the scrum of a disallowed Tyler Bertuzzi goal, produced just one.
The cursed Bertuzzi missed another in a raft of great chances and empty nets, accidentally drawing the puck backward while trying to sweep it over the line, before his trailing leg illegally put it in.
At the end of another press with a minute to go in the period, Matthew Knies couldn’t clear and Garland put Vancouver back ahead.
There are times when Giordano is caught out too long and his 40 years work against him, while before the game, Keefe told media in Vancouver another defenceman, Timothy Liljegren, had met with assistant Mike Van Ryn about the Leafs “needing and wanting more out of him … we’ve got to help him through it, he’s got more to give.”
lhornby@postmedia.com
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