This was not the high the Maple Leafs hoped enjoy as they head into the holiday break, a 5-2 empty-net goal loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Monday after giving up six versus the Islanders in consecutive home games.
Our takeaways:
NOT TAKIN’ CARE OF BUSINESS
Coach Craig Berube sensed it during the three-game win streak that preceded the losses and again before Monday’s matinee – his team isn’t crossing the ‘t’ and dotting the ‘i’ on its Xs and Os.
He cited lack of attention to detail before and after and saw the same coverage errors that 19,000 witnessed at Scotiabank Arena on at least two goals.
Three Maple Leafs converged on Gabriel Vilardi as he corralled a bouncing puck to Mark Scheifele, who had gotten a step on Bobby McMann, Berube dismissing the forward as “sleeping on the weak side.” Scheifele’s second of his three goals saw him get extra whacks at a loose puck near Leafs goaltender Joseph Woll as he and his defence tried to seal the post.
Berube did tip his hat to Kyle Connor and the Jets executing a 2-on-1 after Mitch Marner’s shot was blocked to open the scoring. Woll couldn’t get across fast enough on a big rebound when Connor struck again.
Berube’s other bone to pick is missed shots, which not only kill offence but can result in pucks off the boards and glass hard enough to help the opposition’s transition to odd-man rushes. There were 23 Monday.
Yet there are worse things than being in second place in late December, seven games over .500.
“We get tired, a lot of hockey, the back-to-backs on the schedule,” Berube said. “I’m not making excuses. We’re in the NHL and we have to be sharp.”
“But use these next three days to rest and we should be ready to go (Friday in Detroit).”
ANOTHER INJURY SCARE
Berube isn’t having much success forecasting the return dates of key Leafs when they’re hurt. So when Chris Tanev was held back from Monday’s game after partaking in the warmup with the dreaded ‘lower body’ designation, there is obvious concern.
Auston Matthews, Anthony Stolarz, Max Domi and a bunch of others ended up out much longer than expected from day-to-day conditions. Berube wisely wasn’t making any call on his shot-blocking specialist until after the break. He did say Tanev was hurt in the game Saturday against the Islanders, as opposed to it being a wear-and-tear issue.
Philippe Myers did well in Tanev’s place, certainly possessing one of the harder shots on the Leafs. But he also had three of those high or wide shot attempts.
WOLL BANGER
In Stolarz’s absence, Woll is now up to 15 games (9-6-0, .908 save percentage)and might get close to last season’s career high of 25 appearances by the time Stolarz returns from minor knee surgery. There are a few pucks he would like back the past two games, but he extended his 6-foot-3 body to hold the Leafs in on Monday as part of 22 saves.
On one. he pushed across and got his head in the way of an Alex Iafallo screamer headed under the bar and, as mentioned, he thought the mouse hole was covered on Scheifele’s second goal.
“I stretched pretty far and saved it, but just couldn’t cover,” he said, no doubt hoping for a whistle from the officials, who have to judge the wild scramble for loose rubber versus injury risks to goalies. “Obviously, I don’t want them to score, but I trust the ref is doing his job. In the heat of the moment, you want things to go your way. But we have the best refs in the world and I trust them to do their job.”
SHIFTY SCHEIFELE
Kitchener-born Scheifele had a hat trick in Winnipeg’s first win over the Leafs in the past seven tries. This was big for the Jets, who only make one trip here a year, have several Ontario-born players, as well as memories from the Leafs whipping them at home in October, halting their shot at the NHL record of 10 straight wins to start a season.
“We were excited to get another crack at them,” Scheifele said.
“I love coming to Toronto, the opportunity to play in front of a lot of friends and family.”
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