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Sinking Their Claws In - Panthers Hand Leafs Ninth Loss in Ten Games

February 28, 2012, 10:08 PM ET [1165 Comments]
Ken Beckett
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
After Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke chose to stand pat at the trade deadline and endorse his current roster, those very players came out and suffered their ninth loss in ten games, falling 5-3 to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.

The loss is also Toronto's fifth in a row and marked the first time during the 2012 calendar year that the Blue and White have given up two power play goals. The last time the Leafs' penalty kill gave up two goals against was on Dec. 31, in a 3-2 road loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

Toronto's recent slide combined with a Washington Capitals overtime victory on Tuesday creates an even bigger cap between the Leafs and the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. The Caps take over eighth from the Jets with 69 points, while Toronto sits four points back in tenth place.

After giving up an early goal to the Caps just 32 seconds into Saturday's home game, the Leafs got off to a bad start at the Air Canada Centre once again.

The game got off to a rought start for the Maple Leafs in front of their home fans when just 13 seconds in, Luke Schenn coughed up the puck which lead to the sixth goal of the season from Marcel Goc. One of the newest Panthers picked up the lone assist on the play, as Wojtek Wolski drew his fourth helper of the season and first with Florida.

Goc's goal also marked the fifth-straight game in which the Leafs have given up the first goal. Toronto's record when allowing the first goal this season is 10-18-5.

Things went from bad to worse just over two minutes later when Mike Santorelli scored on a 2-on-1 to extend the Panthers' lead to two. Santorelli's goal was his eighth of the season, while the assists were credited to Jack Skille and 2010 third overall pick Erik Gudbranson.

Late in the first period, Toronto appeared to get on the board thanks to a goal from Joffrey Lupul. The play in question was immediately reviewed and replays showed that Lupul kicked the puck into the net, rendering it disallowed.

Florida had their lead trimmed to one just after the midway point of the second period when Phil Kessel scored a power play goal at the 10:46 mark. Kessel's goal was his 32nd of the season and first in three games, also his seventh on the man advantage. Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf drew the initial assist on the play, his 26th of the season. The secondary helper was credited to Lupul, giving him an even 40 on the year.

It was not long before the Panthers re-established their two-goal lead, as Santorelli scored on the power play just over three minutes later for his second goal of the evening. Tomas Fleischmann drew his 26th assist of the season on the play, while defenceman Brian Campbell was awarded the secondary assist for his 39th of the campaign.

Another goal on the man advantage extended Florida's lead to 4-1 just before the five minute mark of the third period. The goal was scored by Jason Garrison for his 14th of the season, tying the Panthers' rearguard with Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators for second in the league in goals by a defenceman this season. Ottawa Senators blue liner Erik Karlsson leads the way with 15 on the year.

A shot from the top of the slot by Phaneuf which was redirected by Nikolai Kulemin and into the back of the Panthers' net closed the gap to trim Florida's lead to two once again. Kulemin's goal was his seventh of the season and second in five games. Phaneuf's assist was his 27th of the year, while Mikhail Grabovski was also credited with an assist on the play for his 23rd this season.

While a shot from Phaneuf got the Leafs closer, a play just one minute later involving the Leafs' captain put Florida up 5-2 when a shot from Stephen Weiss deflected off Phaneuf's leg and past James Reimer. The goal was Weiss' 16th of the year, while Sean Bergenheim drew the lone assist on the play, giving him five this season.

Though he had his first goal of the game disallowed, Lupul got on the scoreboard with a goal late in the third at the 17:22 mark, batting the puck out of mid-air and past Jose Theodore for his 24th marker of the season. Lupul's goal came on the power play and was his first in five games. Drawing the assists were Kessel for his 35th of the season and second point of the night, as well as Phaneuf for his third helper of the game.

Leafs head coach Ron Wilson pulled Reimer for the extra attacker with 2:08 left in regulation, but the Panthers were able to hang on for their third win in as many games against Toronto this season.

Reimer allowed five goals on 23 shots for his fourth loss in a row, dropping his record to 11-11-4 this season. The Morweena, Manitoba native will get a game off to reflect on what's going wrong, as Wilson revealed in his post-game press conference that Jonas Gustavsson will get the start on Wednesday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

It was a rough night for the Leafs' bench boss, as chants of 'Fire Wilson' rang through the Air Canada Centre through the second and third period. 'Fire Wilson' even began trending on Twitter, becoming the sixth-highest trending topic worldwide by the end of the game.

Wilson was asked about the chants during his press conference, and while he briefly acknowledged them, he shifted the focus for the loss on his squad's bad start to the game.

"It's frustrating but understandable," Wilson said of the chants. "Everybody's frustrated right now. We didn't do anything at the trade deadline, and we came out tentative to say the least and got behind early. This was a game we talked ad nauseum to the team about... the next 20 games and finding our focus, and we weren't ready to start the game."

"There's no pressure anymore. It's the positive pressure of getting into a playoff race and going from there, and we didn't help ourselves at all."

The head coach added later on that while the Leafs are going through a tailspin, the key is remaining positive and working through it, giving credit to Kessel and Kulemin for their efforts.

"You do get exasperated and you get frustrated but tomorrow's a new day. The sun will probably come up," Wilson said. "We've got to pull up our boot straps and get going. I thought Phil again was good, he had a number of chances and made a couple of nice plays. I'm certainly glad that Kuly got a goal and hopefully that line can get going. They played really well in the third period when we were really desperate."

While the fans at the ACC got on Wilson, they also let their displeasure for Reimer be heard, offering the Leafs' netminder mock cheers when he made a save. Phaneuf spoke about that post-game, saying Reimer did not deserve the blame for the loss, the entire team did because of their bad start.

"We win as a team and we lose as a team, that's the bottom line." the Leafs' captain stated. "There's not one guy out of the group that takes more of the blame than any other one. Like I said, it's a team game. We still believe in this group. I said it yesterday, I said it the day before that. I said it a couple days before that, that we believe in the group but we've got to find a way to start better. That's the bottom line. We're hurting ourselves the way we're starting. It's really been tough to come back from the holes that we've put ourselves in, and that's our fault."

Panthers vs. Leafs Stats Recap

Shots
FLA: 23
TOR: 31

Shot Leaders
FLA: Sean Bergenheim (5)
TOR: Nikolai Kulemin (4)

Power Play
FLA: 2/4
TOR: 2/5

Blocked Shots
FLA: 17
TOR: 7

Blocked Shot Leaders
FLA: Gudbranson and Weaver tied (3)
TOR: Liles and Phaneuf tied (2)

Hits
FLA: 22
TOR: 41

Hits Leaders
FLA: Keaton Ellerby (4)
TOR: Luke Schenn (7)

Face-Offs
FLA: 22/60 (37%)
TOR: 38/60 (63%)

Face-Off Leaders -Min. 10 opportunities
FLA: Marcel Goc - 8/18 (44%)
TOR: Tim Connolly - 12/16 (75%)

Time on Ice Leaders
FLA: Mike Weaver (24:51)
TOR: Dion Phaneuf (24:14)

Three Stars
1) Mike Santorelli - FLA (2G, 0A)
2) Marcel Goc - FLA (1G, 0A)
3) Jason Garrison - FLA (1G, 0A)

Game Highlights


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