The 5-4 loss to the Boston Bruins last night was not only the fifth time that the Maple Leafs have lost to the Stanley Cup Champs, it may have been the end of any legitimate chance of Toronto climbing back into the tightly packed race for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, as All-Star winger Joffrey Lupul suffered a shoulder injury that could keep him out the rest of the regular season.
According to TSN, Lupul suffered a separated shoulder in the second period after taking a check from the Bruins David Krejci and will be out of the lineup from anywhere from three to four weeks.
The loss was an opportunity to climb over a couple teams in the race for the final postseason berth, as Buffalo lost Monday night in Winnipeg, Washington lost in overtime to Carolina and Tampa lost to Ottawa, as well as losing starting goaltender Mathieu Garon with a groin injury for a month.
The Leafs have recalled 20 year old Carter Ashton to replace Lupul. Ashton was acquired from Tampa on February 27th for defenseman Keith Aulie and has 20 goals and 17 assists in 59 games with Norfolk and the Toronto Marlies.
Indications are that Coach Randy Carlyle will stick with Jonas Gustavsson tonight in Pittsburgh, as he stated in his post game remarks that the five goals yielded by the Leafs last night were more a result of bad defensive play than subpar goaltending.
Veteran Colby Armstrong is day-to-day after suffering a broken nose courtesy of repeated shots to the bugle from Boston blueliner Dennis Seidenberg.
As a result of the loss, the Leafs remain five points behind Winnipeg with a game in hand, but have played the same amount of games as Buffalo, Washington and Tampa Bay and are only two points ahead of the 13th place Islanders and three points in front of Carolina.
It was unthinkable at the beginning of February that the Leafs would find themselves in such a dire state just a month later, but with the injury to Lupul and the current roster more geared to Ron Wilson’s high flying speed game than Carlyle’s tough minded, defensively responsible system, it is very possible that Toronto has a better chance of earning a lottery pick in next June’s draft than they do of making the playoffs.
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