maple leafs

Leafs with one final stinker against Sabres

Apr 13, 2022 • 1:01 pm

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The Toronto Maple Leafs may go on to have a successful run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting next month, but their inability to put forth any semblance of an effort against teams at the low end of the standings has to call into question the club’s effort level. Since the beginning of January, the Leafs have lost twice in regulation to Montreal, once in regulation and once in overtime to Arizona, and three times to the Buffalo Sabres, including another weak effort in a 5-2 loss at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday.

The lack of any emotional or physical buy-in from Toronto, especially after a pair of one-sided losses last month (including the loss at the Heritage Classic in Hamilton last month in which Auston Matthews was pushed around by Rasmus Dahlin and Dylan Cozens) was stunning, especially to head coach Sheldon Keefe.

“That’s four games against this team and we’ve been no shows in all four. It’s hard to pinpoint.… Keefe said after the game.“Games like this is why we're still competing for home ice in the first round. We've played so well for most of the season against most of the teams in the league. Nights like this are holding us back from competing to win the division. That's the disappointing part."

Timothy Liljegren and Alex Kerfoot scored, and Erik Kallgren made 23 saves for Toronto. who trailed the entire game and were dominated by the more energetic and engaged Buffalo squad. The Sabres played the type of game that you will likely see from whoever the Leafs play in the first round, applying high pressure with two forecheckers in the defensive zone, disrupting any offensive flow by Toronto at even strength and on the power play.

The Leafs lost the special teams battle by a sizable margin, surrendering two power-play goals to Kyle Okposo and Tage Thompson and going 0-for-5 on the man advantage. Toronto is quite fortunate that the Sabres are still rebuilding and not in the playoff picture, as Buffalo’s domination (Leafs are 85-124-18 all-time) has been something that has been in place no matter how bad or good either team is.

Toronto also squandered an opportunity to be one step closer to securing home-ice advantage in the first round, as both Boston and Tampa Bay lost in regulation on Tuesday. The Leafs finish off their three-game homestand against Washington on Thursday.

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