LAS VEGAS — What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, the saying goes.
The Maple Leafs can only hope they’ve left their losing streak behind in Sin City.
It’s six games now without a win, the longest skid since Mike Babcock’s first season behind the Toronto bench, when the club twice had six-game losing streaks in 2015-16.
A 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena featured a better effort from the Leafs, though one would hope so, considering the dismal ethic the team had in Pittsburgh against the Penguins in its previous game on Saturday, followed in the ensuing days with a players-only meeting.
Fact is, a loss is a loss, and the underachieving Leafs fell to 9-10-4. We understand it’s tight throughout the National Hockey League standings, but it’s jarring to see the Leafs with 22 points, just five more than the Detroit Red Wings, who sit last overall with 17.
Five points is all that separates the Leafs from last place. Think about that.
“We need to get a win here, it doesn’t matter how it is,” Jason Spezza said. “If it’s ugly, we’ve got to find a way to get a win.”
Another couple of losses on this trip, with stops in Phoenix and Denver coming up, and few could successfully argue that Babcock continue as coach.
In their past 16 games, the Leafs have won two in regulation.
A loss in Phoenix on Thursday would give the Leafs their first seven-game losing streak since January/February 2015, when they lost 11 in a row.
General manager Kyle Dubas must bear some responsibility. The Leafs have a backup goalie situation envied by no team in the NHL, and players who were added via trade, specifically Tyson Barrie and Cody Ceci, have been disappointments.
Wouldn’t the soft Leafs love to have Nazem Kadri now, eh?
On Tuesday, the Leafs got back to within 3-2 in the third on a power-play goal by Zach Hyman at 12:47. With under four minutes to play, Marc-Andre Fleury made an astounding diving glove save on Nic Petan, who had an open net before the Vegas netminder appeared out of nowhere.
Toronto could not score on a late power play and Cody Eakin got the fourth Vegas goal, into an empty Leafs net with 21 seconds remaining.
“When you’re losing, it’s hard to stay the course, but I think that we played really well,” Hyman said. “We didn’t quit. We stuck with it.
“You go down 3-1, you can pack it in. We were strong throughout that third period, really pushed back. Fleury made a big save on Petey, Mickey (llya Mikheyev) hit the post. These aren’t excuses. Just reality.
“They won the game, but I think we had a chance to win. We didn’t quit. I think that’s really important and something to build off moving forward.”
After a couple of days of insisting they knew the effort had to be better — frankly, it didn’t have to be said, especially after the lopsided loss in Pittsburgh on Saturday — the Leafs had a lot more enthusiasm in the first period.
That waned in the second, when Cody Glass scored the only goal of the period, omn the power-playm to put Vegas up 1-0.
Spezza tied the game in the third, only to have Tomas Nosek score 42 seconds later at 8:08 when he stole the puck from Tyson Barrie in the neutral zone and beat Frederik Andersen on a breakaway.
“It’s tough,” said Barrie, enduring a personal season from hell. “I think we were playing a really good game to that point and then I make a bad turnover. That’s on me. Seems to be when it rains it pours right now. It’s going to take some mental toughness to get through that.”
Mark Stone gave Vegas a 3-1 lead, again on a power-play, at 10:22 of the third.
Babcock kept a stiff upper lip afterward.
“I’ve been around a long time. You’re in lots of situations where you don’t win for a while and you end up having a real good year,” Babcock said. “Just keep grinding.
“It’s disappointing but I’m always about the process and how hard guys play. We played way harder so I thought that was good.”
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury makes a save against Toronto Maple Leafs winger Zach Hyman (11) during the third period at T-Mobile Arena. (Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)
GAME ON
Glass’ goal marked the 18th time in 23 games the Leafs have been down 1-0. No team in the NHL has given up the first goal more than Toronto … The Leafs’ penalty-killers have allowed at least one power-play goal in 13 of the past 16 games, including two on Tuesday. Said Babcock: “We’ve got to keep it out. I didn’t think we were that bad tonight on it, to tell you the truth, but they got two so that’s not good enough. Maybe early in the year, when we didn’t skate as much in the pre-game skates, we should have spent more time doing it. We did that because we were trying to keep our guys fresher and the science part of it, but, in the end, you’ve got to execute on those things so that’s on me.” … Pierre Engvall, in his first NHL game, had the puck bounce over his stick on a good chance midway through the first. Engvall was on the left wing on the fourth line, taking the place of healthy scratch Dmytro Timashov, with Nick Shore and Frederik Gauthier. More often than not, the group had trouble clearing the zone, a problem that helped lead to Justin Holl taking a cross-checking minor. Holl was in the box when Glass scored … Alex Kerfoot joined the team during the day and watched from the press box. The centre, who had facial surgery last week, will take part in practice on Wednesday … Andersen said he “got a little bit outplayed by Fleury.” Vegas outshot Toronto 37-33.
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November 20, 2019 at 06:02PM
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