The Toronto Maple Leafs are looking for a better effort and outcome in the second of their three-game mini-road swing through the Central Division against the Minnesota Wild at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Thursday.
Toronto jumped to an early lead at the MTS Center in Winnipeg on Wednesday, but the Jets responded to Michael Grabner’s first of the season with a pair of Drew Stafford goals and a four-goal third period barrage against rookie Garret Sparks.
Sparks faced a much stronger offensive attack than he faced in his NHL debut against Edmonton on Monday and was up to the challenge through two periods but did not receive much help in the final 20 minutes. Winnipeg outshot the Leafs 35-33 and took control of the game with a pair of goals from Mark Scheifele and Andrew Ladd 78 seconds apart.
“Going into the third, down 2-1, we hadn’t been great, we were set up good.” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said following the game. “We came out and dominated the first shift of the third period and then we made enough mistakes to make the goalie take ownership for no reason. He’s a kid and we were under siege in the third period.”
Babcock turns to James Reimer against the Wild, who missed the last three games with a unspecified lower body injury. Reimer practiced and was cleared to backup Sparks on Wednesday, allowing struggling goalie Jonathan Bernier to be sent to the AHL on a 10-day conditioning stint.
“You want to be back out there and helping your teammates out,” Reimer said on Thursday. “Hopefully we can really put it together tonight and keep getting points.”
The Leafs have regressed since winning five of six games in the middle of November, going 1-3-1 in their last five. Babcock will dress the same lineup that played on Wednesday, which means that forward Rich Clune and defenseman Frank Corrado will be scratched.
The demotion of defenseman Scott Harrington last weekend was thought to improve the odds of the 22-year-old former Canucks blueliner getting into the lineup, but Babcock has played the same six defensemen (Dion Phaneuf, Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner, Matt Hunwick, Roman Polak and Martin Marincin) the last three games.
“It’s an unfortunate set of circumstances, it’s no one’s fault,”
Leafs GM Lou Lamoriello said to TSN’s Mark Masters regarding Corrado’s inactivity. “If anybody takes that responsibility it’s me. We just felt (Corrado) was a prospect, we liked him and what’s he’s going through will not hurt him and at the right time, he’ll get an opportunity.”
Bernier is expected to play four of the Marlies next six games, starting with their next game in Rochester on Friday and the second of back-to-back games against the Manitoba Moose at Air Canada Center on Sunday.
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Lamoriello did not confirm reports from a Swedish newspaper on Wednesday that the Maple Leafs will let William Nylander play for Sweden in the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championship beginning on December 26 in Helsinki.
“We’ll wait and see. Right now, no decision has been made at this point.”
the Leafs GM said of Nylander and Kasperi Kapanen heading to Europe later this month. “Any time you play on that stage, the World Juniors, you’re playing with the best players and against the best players of a similar age so there’s no harm either way. The right decision will be made and it will be a collective decision within our organization.”
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Listen to myself and CTV London’s Norman James discuss the Leafs loss in Winnipeg, their goaltending situation and Frank Corrado.
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