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The Toronto Maple Leafs got production from their core group and excellent goaltending over the last two weeks to pull out of their early season struggles and win five games in a row, but in the finale of their long homestand against the Los Angeles Kings, sloppy defensive play and an off night by Jack Campbell were front and center in their 5-1 loss to the Kings at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
Toronto was outworked from the drop of the puck and fell behind 2-0 on first period goals from former Leaf Trevor Moore and Andreas Athanasiou. John Tavares scored early in the middle frame to narrow the gap to 2-1, but a questionable Phillip Danault goal that appeared to be kicked in reestablished the Kings advantage and the Leafs could not break through veteran Jonathan Quick, who made 33 saves for the victory.
"That's what we're trying to get out of, is this team that doesn't play great one night and has lots of urgency and plays a way that is a recipe to win consistently, and then comes out the very next game and isn't the same group and doesn't have the same level of urgency against a different opponent." Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. "Until we get that sorted out, we're gonna continue to ride this wave. That's not good enough."
Campbell, who was named the NHL Second Star of the Week on Monday, struggled in his fourth consecutive start, allowing four goals on 29 shots.
“I’m pretty sure everybody in the building knows I wasn’t my best, (and it) cost us two points.… the Leafs goalie said after the game.
The Leafs were unable to generate consistent offensive chances throughout the first half of the game, due in part to the Kings matching up veteran defensively-adept centers Anze Kopitar and Danault against Tavares and Auston Matthews.
Toronto’s top pairing of Morgan Rielly and Travis Dermott and second line of Tavares, Mitch Marner and Alex Kerfoot were victimized on the night, as they were on the ice for three Los Angeles goals.
Danault, credited with shutting down Matthews in the Leafs first round loss to Montreal, once again played the role of their nemesis to perfection, scoring a pair of goals and an assist in just over 17 minutes of ice time, but his first goal late in the second period was reviewed and allowed in spite of what appeared to be a distinct kicking motion directing the puck towards the goal.
The loss and some bumps and bruises spurred some changes at Leafs practice on Tuesday before the club departs for Philadelphia to play the Flyers on Wednesday.
Keefe indicated that Tavares and winger Ondrej Kase were banged up in the loss and will travel with the club, but are day-to-day and game time decisions to play against the Flyers.
Travis Dermott (-3 in 15:34 TOI) was the extra skater at the Ford Performance Centre, as the defensive pairings returned to their usual combos of Rielly and TJ Brodie, Jake Muzzin and Justin Holl and Rasmus Sandin with Timothy Liljegren.
Alex Kerfoot shifted to center alongside Marner and Nick Ritchie, recent call up Joey Anderson replaced Kase alongside David Kampf and Pierre Engvall and Kirill Semyonov skated with Jason Spezza and Wayne Simmonds. *******
Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
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