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The Toronto Maple Leafs looked like ghostly apparitions in their all-white uniforms for the Stadium Series outdoor game on Saturday, but a third-period power outage was symbolic of a ghastly performance in a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, MD.
The Capitals were in complete control for most of the game, taking a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes on Alex Ovechkin’s 40th goal of the season, and power play goals from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom.
Zack Hyman scored on a deflection in the first, and in spite of being outplayed, Toronto narrowed the Washington lead to 3-2 in the second on Nazem Kadri’s 24th of the season before Capitals blueliners John Carlson and Jakub Vrana responded in the middle frame.
“We weren't very good. (The Capitals) were good, they got on us. I didn't think we executed at all. When you go through, I didn't think we had many good players.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “In life you only get so many opportunities, you want these to be real positive memories and, so, you've got to be prepared and you've got to be willing to play hard. A way better memory is an opportunity when you win. When you don't [win] and you don't play well in particular, it's unfortunate.”
Frederik Andersen had his first rough night in recent memory and was pulled in favor of backup Curtis McElhinney for the first time this season after allowing five goals on 25 shots (Andersen was replaced by McElhinney vs. Anaheim last month after being injured), but his being replaced was more to protect the Leafs starter.
“I didn't want to leave (Andersen) in there and have a bunch more go in. He's our guy, he's our starter, we've got to look after him the best we can.” Babcock said. (McElhinney) got an opportunity and I thought Mac played good for us. He gave us a chance to crawl back. We didn't do that, but he gave us that chance.”
The loss was the club’s third in a row on the road after winning three straight at Air Canada Centre to end February. In their last 13 games, Toronto has allowed three goals or more 10 times, but have gone 9-2-2 during that span. The concern for Toronto is that they will not be able to outscore their defensive shortcomings in the playoffs and are relying too much on Andersen to be their savior in goal.
Babcock was not pleased with the Leafs effort on Saturday and has scheduled a Sunday afternoon practice in Buffalo, where they take on the club with the Eastern Conference’s worst record on Monday night.
“We'll be practicing (Sunday). The work we didn't put in today, we'll be putting in tomorrow and get back on track here.” Babcock said. “When we go to Buffalo, they'll have a whole bunch of people that are battling for their livelihood, and they're going to play that hard.”
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The future of Lou Lamoriello in Toronto has been an open question since the opening of training camp. The 75-year-old will be completing his third year as Leafs general manager this season and there continues to be speculation that it may be his last.
There have been hints that Team President Brendan Shanahan wanted to maintain the status quo and keep the current group of Lamoriello, Mark Hunter and Kyle Dubas together.
Sportsnet’s
Elliotte Friedman reported on HNIC’s Saturday Headlines that he believes there is term remaining in Lamoriello’s deal with the Leafs, but that his future with the club may transition to being a senior advisor, perhaps similar to the role that Scotty Bowman served in Ken Holland’s management team in Detroit and with his son Stan in Chicago.
According to Chris Johnston, there have been whispers that last summer a meeting was held that stated out loud that it would be Lamoriello’s last season as GM.
Lamoriello have not said anything about what the plan is after this season, but the sudden reversal for Colorado to have permission to talk to Dubas from the Leafs last summer may be a hint that their intention is to promote the assistant GM.
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