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Leafs Lose 2-1 To Avalanche; Is Gardiner A Goner?

October 8, 2013, 2:11 PM ET [1171 Comments]
Mike Augello
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Maple Leafs lost their first game of the season, as PA Parenteau scored early in the third period to give the Colorado Avalanche a 2-1 victory at the Air Canada Center.

Cory Sarich scored the other goal for the Avs, who move to 3-0 on the season under new head coach Patrick Roy, while Joffrey Lupul scored for the Leafs.

Semyon Varlamov made 27 saves for his second victory of the season, while Jonathan Bernier made 31 saves in the loss.

After a fairly even but scoreless first, Colorado dominated the middle frame, outshooting Toronto 15-7 but it was the Leafs who took the lead as Lupul and Carter Ashton crashed the net and battled for a loose puck, which Lupul managed to shovel through Varlamov’s pads and over the goal line to give the Leafs the lead.

Colorado tied the game a little over three minutes later, as Sarich moved in from the point and snapped a shot high over the left shoulder of Bernier for his first goal in 64 games.

The Avs took the lead for good early in the third, taking advantage of a miscue by Leafs defenseman Paul Ranger, who stumbled in the neutral zone allowing a two-on-one break that resulted in Parenteau’s third goal of the season.

The Leafs played with a makeshift lineup with David Clarkson out due to suspension, Nikolai Kulemin out with a bone chip in his ankle and Jay McClement, who missed the game due to his wife giving birth to their first child.

The Leafs next game is Thursday, when they travel to Tennessee to take on the Nashville Predators.

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More on the possible trade talk involving defenseman Jake Gardiner. CBC’s http://www.cbc.ca/sports-content/hockey/opinion/2013/10/30-thoughts-controversial-spin-o-rama-move-in-spotlight.html Elliotte Friedman in his weekly “30 Thoughts” column reiterated comments made on Saturday’s Hockey Night In Canada broadcast that teams have been contacting the Leafs about the 23-year-old blueliner, who is a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

Friedman indicates that if Toronto decides to trade the slick skating puck carrier, it would be in exchange for a young player or players and speculated that if teams stocked with prospects like Dallas, Florida or Minnesota were among the teams expressing interest, there could be the right ingredients for a deal.

“We are always looking at other teams rosters and we have an abundance of defensemen and we have forwards that are dropping, so teams are calling constantly.” Leafs Assistant GM Claude Loiselle stated on Sportsnet FAN 590’s Brady and Walker show Tuesday morning “I can tell you we haven’t offered Jake Gardiner to anyone, but that never stops teams from calling and kicking tires.”

The assumption is that the Leafs would want to trade a defenseman for a forward, but it is just as likely that they would have interest in acquiring a stay-at-home defenseman with offensive-minded Morgan Rielly, Cody Franson and Dion Phaneuf in the top six.

Taking Friedman’s list of teams into consideration, the Leafs could be intrigued by big Erik Gudbranson, the Panthers third overall pick in 2010 or Mathew Dumba, the Wild’s seventh overall pick in 2012 who is in year one of his three-year entry level deal.

If Rielly is sent back to the WHL before playing nine games, it is less likely that anything will occur involving Gardiner during the season, but with five defensemen in the last year of their contracts, GM Dave Nonis will have to plot out who they will try to lock up to a long term deal and who will not be back in Blue and White.

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