Lawless Leafs paying for lack of discipline

More often than not, the Toronto Maple Leafs have been on the wrong side of the law this season.

The two-game ban handed to David Clarkson on Saturday afternoon was the sixth assessed to a member of the team in the last three months and left the Leafs even more depleted heading into a game against the Chicago Blackhawks at Air Canada Centre.

When you couple that with the fact that Toronto has taken the third-highest amount of minor penalties this season, it begins to paint the picture of a team that has been too undisciplined. The Leafs players also believe it helps explain a skid that has seen them go 6-10-3 since Nov. 2.

“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a problem – discipline has been an issue,” centre Nazem Kadri told Sportsnet on Saturday morning. “A lot of times we’ve been in position where we had the opportunity to win and we’ve taken a penalty or two penalties. That kind of switches the momentum and the next thing you know the structure of the game is different.”

Clarkson’s second suspension of the season came for hitting St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Sobotka with a bodycheck to the head on Thursday night. As a result, he’s now forfeited almost $400,000 in salary after previously serving a 10-game suspension for leaving the bench to join an altercation in pre-season.

It was unclear if coach Randy Carlyle would fill Clarkson’s spot in the lineup with recent scratch Carter Ashton or choose to dress seven defencemen against Chicago.

The game marked the return of captain Dion Phaneuf following his two-game suspension. Centres David Bolland (ankle) and Tyler Bozak (oblique strain) remain out of a lineup that has seemingly been in a constant state of flux all year.

A visit from the defending Stanley Cup champions hardly seemed like the ideal scenario for Toronto to get back on track. Carlyle called his team “brain dead” after a 6-3 loss to the Blues and invoked that phrase again when asked what it needed to do to have a better performance against Chicago.

“I guess they can’t be brain dead,” he said.

Jonathan Bernier was expected to get the call in net for Toronto against Blackhawks rookie Antti Raanta, who has gone 5-0-1 to start his NHL career.

Chicago is currently setting the pace for the entire NHL with a 23-6-5 record that has been built with a high-powered offence. Patrick Kane enters the game sitting second in the overall points race – he’s two back of Sidney Crosby – and is one of six Blackhawks players that have already scored at least 10 goals this year.

Making matters even worse for the Leafs is the fact Chicago has gone 9-0-2 against teams based in the Eastern Conference.

For Toronto to have any chance, it will have to play with more discipline than it has shown recently. Kadri made it sound like that message was hammered home in the leadup to the game.

“Right now we’re saying all the right things, but we’ve just got to go do it,” he said. “We’re watching film, we’re realizing all the mistakes we’re making it. It’s important that we pay attention and make sure we’re not doing the same things.”

One subplot to keep tabs on is the quality of the ice at Air Canada Centre. The local arena workers went on strike Friday and a few Chicago players expressed concern about the quality of the sheet after taking their morning skate on Saturday.

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