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Leafs perplexed by late losses, Dermott and Gauthier demoted |
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The Toronto Maple Leafs entered their five-day break from action on a sour note, losing two straight to Columbus and a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Ottawa Senators at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday.
In spite of their disappointing season and nearly certain exclusion from the playoffs, the Sens have risen to the occasion against the Leafs, with two regulation wins and have gone 5-1 against Toronto during Guy Boucher’s tenure as head coach.
The Leafs were stymied by a 45-save performance by Craig Anderson, who kept them off the scoreboard until late in the second period.
You've got to give Anderson credit. He got pulled (on Tuesday), he's a proud guy and he came back tonight (and) played real well.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “He didn't stop it when he didn't see it, but other than that he stopped everything and cleaned up a bunch that he didn't see.”
After Andreas Borgman got the Leafs on the scoreboard, James van Riemsdyk tied the game early in the third, but Ottawa bounced right back with a goal from fourth liner Gabriel Dumont.
Toronto came back to tie the game on a point shot from Morgan Rielly with 7:32 remaining, but the Leafs top blueliner made an ill-advised pinch late in regulation that resulted in Tom Pyatt’s game winning goal.
“We had two pinches that cost us two goals and we were carrying play and had lots of opportunity as you know but, in the end, you've still got to play right. You make those mistakes and they capitalize.” Babcock said.
The Leafs have a five-day break from action until their next game against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
Defenseman Travis Dermott(who was scratched on Wednesday) and center Frederik Gauthier were sent back to the Toronto Marlies on Thursday. Dermott had one assist in his two game stint with the Leafs and Gauthier is scoreless in five games. The Marlies have a pair of weekend games in Charlotte and it will allow them to continue to play during the break and also allows the Leafs to save some money on the salary cap.
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Auston Matthews has been selected for the 2018 All-Star Game in Tampa Bay. Matthews leads the Leafs with 33 points (19 goals, 14 assists) in spite of two injuries that kept him out of 10 games and will be playing in his second straight All-Star game.
Atlantic Division (All-Star appearance)
F Aleksander Barkov, FLA (1st)
F Jack Eichel, BUF (1st)
F Nikita Kucherov, TBL (2nd)
F Brad Marchand, BOS (2nd)
F Auston Matthews, TOR (2nd)
F Steven Stamkos, TBL* (5th)
D Mike Green, DET (2nd)
D Victor Hedman, TBL (2nd)
D Erik Karlsson, OTT (5th)
G Carey Price, MTL (6th)
G Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (1st)
"I had a really good time last year. My family enjoyed it. Obviously, you meet a lot of the top players around the league, you get to know them and stuff so it’s definitely a fun event." Matthews said. "Pretty special to be going and representing the Maple Leafs there."
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Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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