Brophy on NHL: Leafs need a jump-start
Posted February 24, 2012 10:30 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There are NHL teams — good teams — that can rope-a-dope with the opposition and then turn it on in the third period to escape with a victory.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are not one of those teams.
They can get away with it on occasion, but matched up against a potential Stanley Cup favourite like the San Jose Sharks, you just might want to bring you’re A-Game right from the beginning.
In losing their seventh game in eight starts, an accomplishment that has them back on the outside of the playoffs and looking in, the Maple Leafs quite simply didn’t play with enough urgency through the first 40 minutes to expect to beat the Pacific Division-leading visitors. In the end, a solid third period, one in which they out-shot San Jose 16-9 and out-scored the Sharks 1-0, simply wasn’t enough.
Live chat: Join sportsnet.ca columnist MIke Brophy for a live chat at 1 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PT to discuss all things hockey, including Toronto’s fall from a playoff spot and rumours leading up to NHL Trade Deadline Day.
“It was a good period,” said centre Tim Connolly, rather dejectedly. “It was unfortunate that we didn’t come out with as much desperation as we showed in the third period. Points are extremely important right now and we have to play that way for a full 60 minutes.”
The Leafs are now in the midst of a four-game home stand with just a single point to show for it. The Winnipeg Jets, meanwhile, took the opposite approach from the Leafs Thursday night. They built a cozy 4-0 lead on the Tampa Bay Lightning and despite allowing three unanswered goals in the third period, managed to escape with a victory to bump the Leafs into ninth place in the East. The Florida Panthers dropped to eighth with a defeat and have two games in hand on the Leafs.
The thing is, the Leafs didn’t play a totally awful game. It’s just that, with the playoffs on the line and having lost six of seven starts, you would have expected more of a push from the home team. The Leafs had as much control of the puck as the Sharks in the first 40 minutes, but they were just a little too cute with their passing plays. Unless I am missing something, this team doesn’t have the talent or experience to try to dipsy-doodle the puck into the net. One would think getting pucks to the net and driving hard for rebounds might be the way to go.
“We’ve got to direct more shots to the net,” coach Ron Wilson said. “But they are a big team and they won more battles than we did. We didn’t get to the front of the net.”
Wilson wasn’t horrified by his team’s overall performance, but wondered why the players couldn’t come up with three solid periods on a night when it was clearly required.
“I thought the first period we were okay; it was the second period where we didn’t show that,” Wilson said. “Especially when they scored early in the second it was like we said, ‘Here we go again.’ In the second period I wondered where everybody was. It wasn’t like we were under siege, but we didn’t get any offence going.”
For a while in the third period it looked as though the Maple Leafs might be able to pull off another last-minute miracle to tie the game and force overtime — which would have afforded them a valuable point, just as they did against New Jersey Tuesday night. History did not repeat.
“It’s frustrating,” defenceman Cody Franson said. “If there’s one word to sum it up right now that’s it. Sometimes we do it to ourselves, but I thought we played a decent game tonight. San Jose played a pretty solid systematic game tonight, like we knew they were going to, and we had trouble getting in on them.”
Goaltending has been an issue with the Leafs and neither James Reimer nor Jonas Gustavsson has stepped up to claim the starter’s job. Reimer suffered his ninth regulation defeat of the season, but was not the reason why his team lost on Thursday. However, he still looked shaky even though he only gave up two goals. Reimer seems to spend a lot of time on his knees praying that the puck hits him and often can’t find the puck when it doesn’t.
Still, he typically took the high road at the end of the night.
“We threw everything but the kitchen sink against the Sharks at the end … we had so many close bounces and just missed,” Reimer said. “I thought we worked hard and deserved to score another goal or two at the end. You get those games sometimes and if we play another game like that Saturday we’ll probably win.”
Love the enthusiasm, but don’t bet on it. The Leafs host another wounded bear, the Washington Capitals, Saturday and then face off at the ACC against the Florida Panthers Tuesday.
The Leafs clearly need a jump-start. It may come in the form of a trade. It might be re-introducing forward Colby Armstrong and defenceman Mike Komisarek back into the lineup or it might be bringing back the likes of Matt Frattin and Nazem Kadri from the minors.
Clearly something has to change.
