For the latest Leafs updates or Follow @mikeinbuffalo on Twitter If you thought that consecutive 5-2 losses to Buffalo and Pittsburgh earlier this week constituted the low point of the 2019-20 regular season, on Saturday the Toronto Maple Leafs said “hold my beer…. The Leafs once again displayed a lack of defensive detail, allowing the Carolina Hurricanes to score four second-period goals in a 6-3 loss at Scotiabank Arena. To call the game surreal would be an understatement with Carolina losing both starting goalie James Reimer and backup Petr Mrazek to injury, Marlies Zamboni driver David Ayres coming in midway through the middle frame as the emergency backup, and the Leafs still not putting up a strong effort, but that kind of puzzling performance has pretty much been the norm for Toronto since the end of their 10-game point streak in early January. After John Tavares and Pierre Engvall scored on Ayres late in the second, the Canes rebounded with two goals early in the third and played the trap to prevent the Leafs from carrying the puck into the zone. Instead of adjusting their tactics by dumping and retrieving the puck into Carolina zone, Toronto continued trying to carry the puck into the zone and played right into the Hurricanes hands, who limited the Leafs to just seven shots in the third. “It's going to be a tough one here for us to regroup from, it's going to take a little time. (It was) disappointing given the way it went for us (against Pittsburgh on Thursday) and we thought we had put together a good process and a good model for what we need to look like and how we can have success.… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the loss. “I just thought our execution was so poor. It's a sign our best players just weren't having a good night. That was more of what was to come in the second and third.…
First star, David Ayres #Leafs pic.twitter.com/G63tKLBKvc
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) February 23, 2020
The Convo on Podcast @MikeInBuffalo #TheLeafsConvo https://t.co/Kt6HOzalEv
— Norman James (@IamNormanJames) February 23, 2020