TORONTO (Mar. 29) – As the calendar motored toward late-January, it seemed inevitable the Maple Leafs would again qualify for their favorite segment in the post-lockout NHL: garbage time. A third consecutive loss (2-0 at Tampa Bay, Jan. 25) dropped the Leafs a season-tying six games beneath the .500 mark (19-25-5), and appeared to set up an interminable last 10 weeks of the schedule. Of course, such an arrangement would have fit the hockey club like a pair of old galoshes.
Unbeknownst to everyone associated with the Blue & White (management, coaches, players, fans and media), a 4-3 shoot-out victory over Florida at the Air Canada Centre on Feb. 1 set the team on a different path. It began a wondrous stretch of 16 games in which the Maple Leafs compiled a 10-2-4 record, facilitating a recovery from 14 points beneath the Eastern Conference playoff bracket. This unforeseen advance ignited hockey fervor here in Leaf land for the first time in four years – quasi-playoff contention surviving until a game at Detroit this past Saturday, when a 4-2 loss to the Red Wings, combined with Buffalo’s 2-0 win over New Jersey, reduced the flame to a puff of smoke. Only a moderate wind is now required to extinguish the Leafs for good.
What a ride it was, however, for long-suffering fans of the Blue & White. Fueled by the mostly-spectacular play of rookie goalie James Reimer, the Leafs soldiered on for more than a month in a near-impossible situation: having to win virtually every game. Consecutive road triumphs in St. Paul MN and Denver last week brought the club to within closest proximity of the playoffs – a three-point margin that Buffalo wasted no time in widening to seven with back-to-back home victories over the Panthers and Devils. Though the Leafs are still in the hunt, mathematically, it would take a Lotto-649-type miracle to end the club’s record post-season drought.
Given the unanticipated surge of the hockey club, its contemptible showing through the month of November proved fatal. After an exhilarating 4-0-0 dash to begin the schedule, the Leafs wallowed through a stretch of 20 games (4-12-4) that effectively ruined the season. Fighting from behind is always an arduous chore, and the Leafs made a contest of it. Imagine the possibilities if even a few winnable matches hadn’t been frittered away between Oct. 28 and Nov. 20.
Toronto’s playoff surge – with a benefit of six-to-eight lost points – would have likely persisted until the waning hours of the 2010-11 season.
As such, here’s a look at four games in a 24-night span – all of them at the Air Canada Centre – that were lethal in the long run.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 6, 2010 – BUFFALO 3 at TORONTO 2
This might have been the botched opportunity of the season. The Sabres were every bit as wretched as the Leafs early in the schedule, staggering into town on a five-game losing streak and without all-world goalie Ryan Miller, who had a messed-up knee. A virtual unknown, Jonas Enroth, made his first NHL start in the Buffalo cage, and the home team didn’t exactly smell blood. Enroth had a relatively easy time (23 shots) against the misfiring Blue & White.
Still, Toronto carried a 2-1 lead into the dying seconds of the third period, looking to win for the first time in five outings. Given his excellent campaign, it seems odd to remember that Mikhail Grabovski broke a 20-game scoreless drought that night – he and Nikolai Kulemin providing the Leafs a 2-0 edge late in the middle period; Derek Roy putting the visitors on the board before the intermission. Toronto nursed its one-goal margin into the final minute, and Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff pulled Enroth for an extra attacker.
A shot from inside the point bounced off a couple of skates directly to Jochen Hecht, who swept the puck past Jean-Sebastien Giguere with 13.1 seconds left on the clock. Overtime was scoreless and Enroth turned aside four of five attempts in the shootout before rookie Tyler Ennis clinched the victory by fooling Giguere. It was only a lost point, but an awfully big one considering the Leafs had also allowed a one-goal lead in the third period to dissipate in their previous game, three nights earlier, at Washington.
“With 13 seconds left, you’ve got to (get rid of) the puck and not let that happen,” said veteran defenseman Tomas Kaberle of the Leafs. “We had the lead in Washington (on Wednesday) and today as well… all game, pretty much. It’s tough to swallow. That’s two extra points and you might need them toward the end of the season.”
It’s doubtful a Toronto player said anything quite so prophetic early in the schedule.
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 13, 2010 – VANCOUVER 5 at TORONTO 3
A loss to the NHL’s best team wasn’t perplexing on the surface, but the opportunity existed for a major upset. After the crushing defeat against Buffalo a week earlier, the Leafs had come close to firing blanks on a quick jaunt through Florida, getting out-scored 8-1 in consecutive-night losses at Tampa and Sunrise. This prompted general manager Brian Burke – against his better judgment – to summon rookie Nazem Kadri from the AHL Toronto Marlies, telling reporters “we need a spark.”
Whether or not the call-up had an effect, the Leafs again crafted a 2-0 lead, as they had seven nights earlier – but this time against the vaunted Roberto Luongo. Fredrik Sjostrom and Phil Kessel had the Air Canada Centre hopping by the 7:39 mark of the opening frame. But, Vancouver’s powerplay clicked exactly two minutes later, when Daniel Sedin slid the puck past Giguere. Consecutive tallies by Ryan Kessler (at 17:01 of the first period and 00:56 of the second) provided the visitors their initial lead of the night. Grabovski whizzed a high shot past Luongo from 30 feet at 11:44 of the middle period to knot the count again in a terrific match.
The killer moment for the Leafs occurred with just 6:24 remaining; most fans of the hockey club can probably close their eyes and still re-visit the play. Mason Raymond of the Canucks stepped over the blue-line and slapped a fairly routine shot along the ice toward Giguere. Somehow, the puck sailed between the pads of the Toronto goalie, prompting a collective groan from the ACC faithful, and Burke to bury forehead in hands up in the executive booth. Dan Hamhuis clinched the victory into an empty net with 50 seconds left, causing Kris Versteeg to shatter his stick against the glass.
Giguere was ashen in the Leaf dressing room afterward, but classy enough, as always, to face the media. “Obviously, that’s a shot I should have stopped but things like this happen to goalies,” he reasoned. “It’s not the first bad one I’ve let in and it probably won’t be the last. All I know is I won’t dwell on it. I’ll be ready for our next game.”
The dwelling was left to others on a night when the Leafs matched the NHL’s best team, stride for stride, only to lose a gut-wrencher.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30, 2010 – TAMPA BAY 4 at TORONTO 3
If you ask a Leaf executive, player or fan to recall the toughest loss of the season, chances are he’ll point to this fold-up against the Lightning. Martin St. Louis scored on Jonas Gustavsson with just 8.7 seconds left in regulation and Simon Gagne won it for the visitors at 1:15 of overtime, as Tampa crawled out from a 3-1 deficit in the final frame. Gagne decided to shoot on a 2-on-1 with Brett Clark for his initial tally as a member of the Lightning; the ex-Flyer returning after an 18-game absence with persistent neck pain.
The Leafs had persistent stomach pain after this one; the OT defeat so maddening that Gustavsson – increasingly prone to emotional outbursts in his sophomore season – could be heard slamming his goal-stick against the wall on his way to the dressing room. Compounding the Toronto frustration was an apparent goal by Luke Schenn that was waved off near the end of the first period when Clarke MacArthur was called for interfering with goalie Dan Ellis. It would have given the Leafs yet another 2-0 lead and replays clearly showed defenseman Victor Hedman nudging MacArthur into the crease.
“That should have been a goal,” Toronto coach Ron Wilson said. “I think when the referee reviews it himself and he sees it, (he’ll agree). He told me (MacArthur) was in the crease the whole time and he wasn’t. He was pushed into the crease by the defenseman as the puck was entering the net. I have the advantage of replay so I can be critical of it, but it looked like a good goal from the bench. And then when we watched the replay, I’d say it was a good goal. You can’t argue that.”
What couldn’t be argued is that the Leafs choked away another critical point with their abject inability to come through, late in a game, on home ice.
THURSDAY DECEMBER 2, 2010 – EDMONTON 5 at TORONTO 0
Those attending the lone Oilers-Leafs match at the Hangar just 48 hours after the Tampa Bay debacle had no idea they’d be seeing a combination hockey game/concert. As the Leafs tottered through their most humiliating hour of the season, fans in the upper deck began a chorus of “Fire Wilson!” aimed at the club’s beleaguered coach. The ditty would be repeated the following Thursday in a loss to Philadelphia, this time accompanied by a shower of previously-frozen waffles.
It was the inaugural visit to our town by Taylor Hall – the first overall pick in last June’s NHL draft – and his hot-shot rookie teammate, Jordan Eberle. The duo put on a show for the disbelieving audience at the ACC: Hall scoring twice; Eberle adding another. Edmonton had been careening at 6-12-4 prior to a three-game road trip, but the Toronto laugher allowed the Oilers to go home with an Eastern sweep. Leaf fans found themselves battling nausea.
Eberle scored the game’s first goal just 3:10 after the opening face-off, making a human pylon of Kaberle en route to beating Gustavsson from a terrible angle. The double-botch more than set the tone for an evening of hoots and howls. The Leafs were blanked for the sixth time in 24 games, putting them on pace to be shut-out during a full quarter of the schedule.
“No excuses, we’ve got to figure out away to get some goals,” said Kadri afterward, as most of the veteran Leafs stood clear of reporters. Added Wilson: “We’ve got three or four guys who should be scoring on the chances they’ve had, and they’re not. When they don’t score on those chances, it affects the rest of the team.”
Edmonton fattened its margin with goals by Hall and Ryan Jones at 16:55 and 17:29 of the third period, increasing the “Fire Wilson!” serenade from the cheap seats (as if there are such items at the ACC). It was Toronto’s 16th loss in 20 games after the 4-0-0 spurt.
So, there you have it: two points that could have easily been seven or eight.
A five-game drought on home ice between Dec. 9 and Jan. 3 didn’t help matters. This messy combination left the Leafs in an untenable circumstance: virtually unable to lose in the final month. It’s something the players should remind themselves about – often – in the summertime.
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