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Perhaps expecting a 60-minute effort is unreasonable in every game during a difficult season, but the Toronto Maple Leafs have not displayed the ability to put together a complete game on a consistent basis since the beginning of December. Either the club cannot hold a multiple goal lead, as was the case during the six-game road swing last month or they fall behind and are forced to rally late to earn valuable points in the standings.
Such was the case on Monday, as Toronto trailed the New Jersey Devils 4-2 after two periods, mimicing their poor effort against Detroit on Saturday. The Leafs once again rallied in the third, scoring four unanswered goals in a 6-4 victory over the Devils at Scotiabank Arena.
Auston Matthews registered his fifth career hat trick and 400th career point, Jason Spezza, Mitch Marner and Ilya Mikheyev scored for Toronto in their fourth straight win, and Petr Mrazek made 19 saves in relief of Jack Campbell for his fifth victory of the season.
“Obviously, it’s been a flip of the script here where we’ve had leads and had poor third periods and now we’re playing from behind and having good third periods and finding ways to get points.… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “We’ll take that, we like that our team has got lots of fight in it and keeps pushing and had confidence in it’s ability to come back in the game and score enough goals to win, (but) the start is not even close to good enough and it’s the kind of start that you deserve to lose games when you play like that and start that way and spot them three. Fortunately for us, there was enough time for us to chip away at it and push back.…
Defensively, it was a nightmarish evening for the second and fourth line, who were on the ice for two even strength goals each, but was also a rough night for Campbell, who allowed three goals on nine shots before being pulled less than 10 minutes into the game.
While the Leafs had little option other than playing Campbell nearly every night with Mrazek injured, the workload may have taken it’s toll on their starter. Campbell’s record to start the season was 12-4-1, with a 1.64 GAA and sparkling .946 save percentage, but since December 1 his record is 8-2-2, but goals against has ballooned to 3.32 and save percentage is .892. Toronto has allowed three or more goals in seven of their last nine games, and while their record is 6-2-1 in those games, we know all too well that playing a more offensive game with defensive lapses is a recipe for disaster when it comes playoff time.
The Leafs finish off their schedule prior to the All-Star break against the Devils in Newark on Tuesday. It is unknown who Keefe will start in goal, but it is likely that he will go back to Campbell with Mrazek playing most of the game on Monday.
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Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
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