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The Toronto Maple Leafs began the California portion of their four-game road trip with a weak effort in a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
Coming off two straight losses at home, the Leafs started well in Patrick Marleau’s return to Northern California, as Auston Matthews gave Toronto the lead midway through the first with his ninth goal of the season, but the Sharks from that point forward choked off the Leafs ability to generate an offensive attack, forced them into numerous turnovers and took over the game.
“I thought San Jose did a great job of putting the puck in and putting pressure on us. We turned the puck over too much.… Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “Part of it is they were working hard and catching us from behind. That made (the Sharks) quicker and on top of us and we didn't get on top of them enough. I thought we had one dominant line and other than that we didn't have enough.…
Frederik Andersen kept the game close with an impressive 36-save performance, but the Leafs registered only nine shots in the final 40 minutes on Sharks goalie Martin Jones.
Joe Pavelski tied the game in the second, Tim Heed put San Jose in the lead on the power play at 4:11 of the third and Joel Ward scored an empty netter for the eventual game winner.
After 2 scoring changes, @andreasborgman officially gets his first @NHL goal.
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 31, 2017
The players kept the puck for him just in case. #TMLtalk pic.twitter.com/i4QJhMzaSM
Babcock once again looked for a line other than Zach Hyman, Matthews and William Nylander to provide some energy and mixed up his forward lines in the third. Marleau took Tyler Bozak’s place between James van Riemsdyk and Mitch Marner and the veteran center did not see a shift in the last 14 minutes of the third.
The lineup juggling continued at practice in Anaheim on Tuesday, as Connor Carrick replaced Roman Polak on the bottom pairing with Andreas Borgman. Josh Leivo was inserted on the right side with Leo Komarov and Nazem Kadri, Marleau remained at center between van Riemsdyk and Connor Brown and Bozak and Marner joined Matt Martin on the fourth line.
“If it’s going real good, why would you (change your lineup) and if it’s not going as good after awhile, you have to find a way to fix it.… Babcock said. “In the end, we were not good enough and that’s been a consistent theme of late, so it’s time for a change.…
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