The Maple Leafs’ record against NHL bottom-dwelling teams could be costly

Sheldon Keefe called it a “freebie”.

The short-handed goal, that is, that Ottawa scored to turn the tide of a game the Maple Leafs were comfortably controlling and ended up losing 4-2 on Wednesday. The Parker Kelly goal, in fact, was still queued up on a tablet in the Leafs’ dressing room not long afterward.

“Our power play didn’t do our job tonight and gave them life,” John Tavares said afterward.

The Senators tied the game less than five minutes after the Kelly goal and took over from there, going ahead for good on a strange goal from just above the goal line that somehow found its way off the back of Martin Jones and into the net.

“Some of our details just slipped, really on each of the goals against,” Keefe said. “I thought Ottawa got better and harder as the game went on and we didn’t respond to that.”

It’s kinda the way it’s gone for the Leafs all season (and in previous seasons, too) against the NHL’s inferior teams.

The Leafs have lost twice to the Senators this season. That’s two losses to the NHL’s 28th-ranked team in points percentage. They’ve dropped a pair to Chicago, ranked 31st, and two as well to Buffalo, ranked 27th.

They were also beaten recently by Columbus, owner of the NHL’s fourth-worst record.

All told, a 2-5-2 mark against four of the NHL’s worst teams.

If the Leafs don’t win the Atlantic Division, lose home-ice advantage in the first round, or fall further into a wild-card spot, there will be no better place to look than that – their play against those lower-echelon teams.

And what might the cost of that be? A more challenging road in the postseason, of course, and potentially, another early exit as a result.

The Leafs technically are sitting third in the Atlantic with 40 points, two back of the Panthers but with two games in hand. The Bruins, who rolled the Sabres on Wednesday night, have a six-point advantage for top spot (though they also have played one more game than the Leafs).

It’s the “details” that just seem to be lacking whenever lower-end teams like the Senators are around — four Leafs deep in the Senators’ zone on that power play, with Jake Sanderson and Claude Giroux coming up with the puck anyway.

“What I didn’t love about it is, I thought we were really outworked on our power play,” Keefe said. “That part’s not acceptable.”

Later, the Leafs were unable to sort things out defensively in transition after Auston Matthews won and then lost control of a puck in the neutral zone.

The Leafs were outshot 13-7 when the line of Matthews, Mitch Marner, and Matthew Knies was on the ice. Knies, with a toe, did score the Leafs’ first goal. Expected goals for the line though, was just 38 percent.

That’s worth monitoring given how poorly things went earlier in the season when Marner played alongside Matthews.

And while the third goal to beat Jones was unusual, it came after Tyler Bertuzzi failed to corral (and then move out) two passes from his defencemen — one from Morgan Rielly, another from TJ Brodie.

As Keefe said, “When things don’t go well for us, we don’t move the puck efficiently from our defence to our forwards.”

Details. Just lacking.

“They seemed to have a little more jump after the first period,” Jones said. “They were able to get to the forecheck a little bit better and make it a little bit tougher on us getting out of the (defensive) zone and through the neutral zone.”

The Leafs had chances to nail the game down, both when they were ahead and trailing. Bertuzzi, in particular, had two golden looks, early and later, that somehow failed to drop.

What’s striking about all the losses to the not-so-great teams is all the goals the Leafs have given up.

They’ve allowed 10 goals combined in the two losses to Ottawa. Four each in those two losses to Chicago. Fifteen(!) total in the two losses to Buffalo, including the nine-spot just before the Christmas break. Six goals in the loss to Columbus.

The attention to detail, especially defensively, that is so striking when the Leafs play, say, Boston has rarely been there against opponents with fewer points and credibility.

The Leafs can start turning this trend around pronto. They visit the Blue Jackets on Friday and face off against the Ducks and Sharks (twice) early next month. There are points there to snatch. Points that could make a big deal in the playoff race.

(Stats and research courtesy of Natural Stat Trick)

(Top photo of Drake Batherson and Martin Jones: Gavin Napier / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)