Struggling Leafs lose 4-2 to Washington
Posted February 25, 2012 10:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Over to you, Brian Burke.
The Toronto Maple Leafs fell flat in their final outing before the trade deadline, allowing Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals to walk all over them during a 4-2 loss on Saturday.
These are supposed to be desperate times for teams involved in the playoff race, but Toronto lacked urgency and dropped a fourth straight game on home ice — earning plenty of boos from the Air Canada Centre crowd in the process.
Ovechkin picked up two assists and kept the Leafs pinned in their own zone for a minute-long stretch during the second period along with linemates Marcus Johansson and Keith Aucoin. It was the most telling stretch of the evening.
Johansson, Aucoin, Alex Semin and Jeff Halpern picked up goals for Washington (31-26-5), which jumped into eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.
Colby Armstrong and Tim Connolly replied with third-period goals for the Maple Leafs (29-26-7).
With Monday’s trade deadline looming and Toronto locked in a 1-7-1 slide, tension is high in Toronto. Burke has yet to reveal his deadline plans beyond saying he’ll look into acquiring a goalie — leaving fans to debate whether he should try to make a big move that could help now or be patient and avoid mortgaging the future.
The players have responded to trade questions by saying that they need only focus on doing their job in games. It hasn’t translated to success.
On Saturday, Johansson opened the scoring just 32 seconds in with a wraparound that took Reimer by surprise. Semin made it 2-0 just over three minutes later by stripping defenceman Luke Schenn of the puck and beating Reimer through the legs.
That prompted Leafs coach Ron Wilson to call a rare timeout to try to settle down his players. But the damage was done and the uneasy crowd treated Reimer to a couple Bronx cheers on easy saves that followed.
The Toronto goaltender could hardly be faulted for allowing the game to get out of hand.
In fact, he made some solid saves early in the second period — denying Matt Hendricks and Jason Chimera on odd-man rushes — to keep the Leafs in it. Reimer also turned away a couple chances just before Halpern extended the lead to 3-0 at 11:31.
Aucoin picked up his first of the season on a lovely tic-tac-toe passing play with Johansson and Ovechkin at 15:03 and the game was essentially over.
Toronto tried to mount an unlikely comeback in the third period — Armstrong picked up his first goal since Feb. 26, 2011 and Connolly banked a shot in from behind the net — but Capitals goalie Michael Neuvirth buckled down and secured the victory.
