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The Toronto Maple Leafs powerhouse offense produced enough goals to overcome incomplete efforts in their first three wins of the season, but goaltender Cory Schneider made 47 saves and the speedy New Jersey Devils forced the Leafs into turnovers and bad decisions in their first loss of the season, a 6-3 defeat at Air Canada Centre on Wednesday.
It was a particularly bad night for the Leafs blueliners Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman. Rosen was -2 in just over 12 minutes of ice time (the lowest TOI of the six Toronto defensemen) and made a brutal giveaway on Blake Coleman’s goal early in the third period, while Borgman was -3 on the night.
“They fit in good. We weren’t very good.… Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “Obviously, the message sent wasn’t received these last few days. By doing the pre-scout we knew what we were in for, but we didn’t do our part. It was disappointing.…
The turning point in the game came with Toronto trailing 3-2 late in the second period with an opportunity to tie the game on a five-on-three power play. Jake Gardiner failed to keep the puck in the Devils zone and allowed Brian Gibbons to collect a Frederik Andersen rebound for a short-handed goal.
“I didn’t think we worked. I thought the (Devils were) good. I thought they skated, I thought they skated us into the ground and won all the stick battles right from the get-go. It was 2-2 after one but that flattered us at the time.… Babcock said. “We never had any time engaged. We talked quite a bit about this game coming up and how it was going to be. That’s exactly what I expected, but I expected us to compete and that didn’t happen.…
Toronto has allowed 16 goals in four games and shown an inability to clear the way in front of Andersen and maintain order in the defensive zone.
One change that may occur for the Leafs next game in Montreal on Saturday could be the return of Connor Carrick in place of either Borgman or Rosen on the bottom pairing. Carrick has been out the last two games with an unspecified upper body injury, but has been participating in practices.
Veteran Roman Polak continues to skate with the club and is getting up to speed, but will need to be signed to an NHL contract to get back in the lineup. Based on the Leafs current predicament, it appears that the re-signing of the blueliner is just a matter of time. *******If you are interested in sponsorship or advertising your business in the Greater Toronto / Southern Ontario area on this column, please send a message for more information by clicking on the “Contact… button at the top of the page.*******