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The narrative of the Toronto Maple Leafs continues to follow a familiar path, as the club surrendered a lead and earned a single point in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.
Toronto led 2-0 after 40 minutes on goals from Tyler Bozak and Nikita Zaitsev and befuddled the Kings with their speed advantage, but Anze Kopitar and Tanner Pearson erased the Leafs lead with goals 90 seconds apart early in the third.
Zaitsev goal pic.twitter.com/ez5ovPUHXi
— steph (@myregularface) March 3, 2017
After a wild and exciting three-on-three overtime, Toronto fell short in the shootout, which has become the bane of their existence this season.
Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, who appeared in top form in his third start after missing most of the season with a groin injury, stymied rookies Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, while Kopitar was the only LA shooter to beat Frederik Andersen.
Safe to say Jonathan Quick's groin is better. Unreal shootout-winning save on William Nylander. pic.twitter.com/Q2biA3sS0Y
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) March 3, 2017
“We haven't had much luck this year in the shootout for whatever reason, so that part is disappointing.… Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “I thought we played well. I thought we gave them lots of trouble, I thought they gave us trouble too. It was a good hockey game.…
Toronto has lost eight of nine games that have gone to shootouts and are under .500 (5-6) in overtime games. Earning points in half of those losses would have them sitting comfortably in the playoff spot, but the loss to the Kings has the Leafs at 70 points; tied for the second Eastern Conference wildcard spot with the New York Islanders and one point in front of the Florida Panthers.
The Leafs complete their California road swing with the second of back-to-back games in Anaheim on Friday. The Ducks will be well rested coming off their bye week, but will not have starting goalie John Gibson available due to injury.
Former Leaf Jonathan Bernier (9-6-2, 2.94 GAA, .901 save percentage) is 1-2-0 in his last three starts and will go for Anaheim, while Curtis McElhinney (3-3-0, 2.08 GAA, .938 save percentage) will go for Toronto after Andersen made 33 saves on Thursday.
Toronto did not skate Friday morning, so any potential lineup changes will not be revealed until the pre-game skate. It is possible that Josh Leivo or newcomer Eric Fehr get inserted. *******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.******* KINDLE USERS: Please sign up for Maple Leafs Buzz, which includes a free-of-charge 14-day trial and is just 99 cents per month afterwards. For more information click here.