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The Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 shootout loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday earned them a point and kept them in an Eastern Conference wild card spot, but the second straight game without defenseman Morgan Rielly provided further evidence that Toronto’s blueline is an area of weakness that GM Lou Lamoriello will have to address for the Leafs to be a more competitive club.
In the 5-2 loss to New York on Thursday, the absence of Rielly caused Mike Babcock to insert Frank Corrado and shift Jake Gardiner to the top pairing.
Toronto was unable to hold back an energetic Rangers attack (who bombarded Frederik Andersen with 41 shots) and the ability to generate an offensive attack from the back end was hampered.
Babcock was forced to shuffle his defense combos and went primarily with four blueliners (Gardiner played a team-high 26:14 and Nikita Zaitsev, Matt Hunwick and Roman Polak all exceeded 20 minutes) after a pair of Corrado minors in the second period.
On Saturday, Martin Marincin replaced Corrado and was inserted on the top pairing with Zaitsev. The lanky Slovak played 21:14 and was competent for most of the game, but took a critical delay of game penalty late in the third that led to Mike Hoffman’s tying power-play goal with 1:11 in regulation.
The Leafs have three games remaining before the NHL All-Star break, and could opt to keep Rielly out until after the break, when he is fully recovered from his leg injury, but the 22-year-old’s absence is just the short-term concern.
Even with Rielly in the lineup, Toronto’s defense has a way to go to be a playoff quality group.
Adding a top-four defenseman is easier said than done, but if GM Lou Lamoriello can make that acquisition, it would have a trickle down effect that would improve their depth next season. The trade route is preferable to getting into a bidding war this summer for Kevin Shattenkirk or Karl Alzner in free agency in July.
If the Leafs are able to trade James van Riemsdyk for a defenseman, it would allow Connor Carrick or a youngster like Andrew Nielsen (currently 2nd in AHL scoring among rookie blueliners) to be on the bottom-pairing next season.
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The Toronto Marlies had a successful weekend in the New England portion of their six-game road trip. After a 7-4 win in Hartford and a 4-3 loss to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers on Saturday, the Leafs AHL affiliate won 2-1 over Springfield Thunderbirds on Sunday.
Marc-Andre Cliché and Byron Froese scored for Toronto, Garret Sparks made 32 saves for the victory and Seth Griffith registered an assist in his second straight game, but the Marlies lost forward Brendan Leipsic after being checked along the boards and did not return to the game.
Leipsic (who leads the Marlies with 37 points) was selected along with Kasperi Kapanen for the AHL All-Star Game in Syracuse next weekend.
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