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The Toronto Maple Leafs ended their three-game homestand on a winning note, but also raised more questions about their overall defensive play in a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. David Kampf’s game-winner with 1:20 left in regulation partially obscured the main story of the contest, which was Toronto giving away the puck 17 times and blowing a three-goal second period lead.
The Hawks narrowed the lead to 4-2 before the end of the middle frame on Connor Murphy’s second goal of the season and tied the game with two in the third from Dominik Kubalik and Jake McCabe before the former Hawk took advantage of a weird bounce off the boards to give the Leafs a victory they may not have deserved.
“Yeah, same story that it’s been here with just too many chances against. Too many freebees, too many guys behind us, same issues that were hurting us when we weren’t winning games early in the season.… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “The fact that we won tonight is a good thing, fortunate to get a little bit of a bounce there but to me we win the game on special teams and goaltending but get outplayed pretty badly at 5-on-5.…
Justin Holl once again had a rough outing for Toronto, as the veteran was on the ice for three Chicago goals, including a bad defensive play vacating his position to help defense partner Kristians Rubins on Kubalik’s goal.
Rubins did not play for most of the third period and on Sunday the rookie was sent down to the AHL Marlies. The Leafs recalled forward Brett Seney and defenseman Carl Dahlstrom. Seney currently leads the Marlies with 10 goals in 19 games, while Dahlstrom has NHL experience with Chicago and Winnipeg and will fill in on the bottom pairing until Travis Dermott or Rasmus Sandin return to the lineup.
Toronto was slated to play a four-game road swing through Western Canada and the Pacific Northwest this week, but that plan has changed with the news on Monday that six Calgary Flames Players and one staff member have entered COVID Protocol.
The NHL postponed three Flames games, including Thursday’s game against the Leafs, which means that Toronto will have three days off before playing Vancouver and Seattle back-to-back next weekend. The Leafs play Edmonton on Tuesday, who are currently on a five-game losing skid. *******
Lot’s of â¤ï¸ for the 💙ðŸ¤
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) April 26, 2021
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