The Toronto Maple Leafs appeared mostly disinterested in a 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers at Air Canada Center on Tuesday. In spite of taking an early lead on a Tyler Bozak power play goal, Toronto did not show much energy of the lead an went through the motions most of the game.
The Panthers, who moved to within two points of the idle Boston Bruins for the final Eastern Conference wild card spot, tied and took the lead with power play tallies from Jussi Jokinen and Nick Bjugstad and widened the gap to 3-1 in the middle frame on former Leaf draft pick Jimmy Hayes 17th goal of the season.
Florida sat back on their two goal lead in the third, limiting second and third chances on veteran goalie Roberto Luongo. Toronto outshot the Panther 16-1 in the third, but did not have any glowing offensive chances until the final minute of regulation when Phil Kessel scored his 22nd of the season.
Jonathan Bernier allowed three goals on 17 shots and has gone 0-8-2 in his last 10 games, but the Leafs goalie has not received much support from his teammates who have scored just 12 goals in his last 10 starts. The loss is Toronto’s fourth in a row after snapping an 11-game losing streak against Edmonton on February 7.
New addition Olli Jokinen played most of the game at center between David Clarkson and fellow Finnish Olympian Leo Komarov. The well-travelled 36-year-old saw 10:37 of ice time against one of his nine former teams with a few scoring chances early on, but only saw three shifts totaling 2:16 in the third with the Leafs shortening their bench and attracted more attention after the game with a commentary on his new club.
"The one thing I notice here being here two days is a lot of negative energy around here," Jokinen said after the game.
Although Jokinen’s comments are refreshingly candid, they are not exactly a revelation. The observation that the Leafs locker room is dysfunctional and negative is akin to someone visiting a frozen Niagara Falls and concluding that it is cold outside.
Toronto has just completed their worst quarter season since 1984-85(which happened to be the season that gave them the first pick in the NHL Draft and some guy named Wendel Clark) and with rumors continuing about massive changes in the roster before the trade deadline and in the off-season, it is likely that you will see continue to see this level of play for the remaining 24 games of the season.
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Wild Card Race – Points(Games Played)
1. WASHINGTON 72(58), 2. BOSTON 64(56), 3. FLORIDA 62(56), 4. PHILADELPHIA 58(57), 5. OTTAWA 54(55), 6. COLUMBUS 53(55) 7. NEW JERSEY 53(57). 8. TORONTO 51(58).
Leafs odds of making the playoffs (0.1%, down 0.2% with loss to Florida, as per Sportsclubstats.com .
McEichel Race – Points(Games Played)
8. OTTAWA 54(55), 7. COLUMBUS 53(55), 6. NEW JERSEY 53(57), 5. TORONTO 51(58), 4. CAROLINA 47(56), 3. ARIZONA 47(58), 2. EDMONTON 42(58), 1. BUFFALO 36(57)
Current Leafs odds at winning Draft Lottery(8.5%)
Tuesday's results: Columbus and New Jersey move two points ahead of Toronto, giving the Leafs sole possession of 26th place. The Blue Jackets win 5-2 in Philadelphia and the Devils win 2-1 over Buffalo in a shootout. Carolina loses 4-1 to the Islanders in the second of back-to-back games, keeping them four points behind Toronto, but with two games in hand.
While the Sens, Jackets and Devils are only a few points of the Leafs, a seven-point gap has been opened between Toronto and Philadelphia, which means that the lowest that the Leafs could fall is eighth pick in the upcoming NHL Draft.
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Habs have seats for 5 scouts incl. Bergevin. 19 scouts in all accredited for #Leafs game pic.twitter.com/D8UrAoGtPc
— Kevin McGran (@kevin_mcgran) February 17, 2015The Montreal Canadiens had a very sizable presence in the press box at Air Canada Center on Tuesday, as GM Marc Bergevin and assistants Larry Carriere and Rick Dudley observed the Leafs – Panthers game and chatted with Panthers GM Dale Tallon and Toronto’s Dave Nonis during the game.
The Habs are a lock for the postseason with 78 points atop the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference, but have scored just 150 goals in 56 games(less than three per game) and may be looking to add some secondary offense and bolster their blueline to improves their chances of another deep playoff run.
Florida is still in the playoff race but may be looking to move pending UFA’s Sean Bergenheim, Tomas Kopecky, Tomas Fleischmann and Scottie Upshall, while Toronto is in full sell mode and open to most trade possibilities. Montreal may be in on Daniel Winnik, who is virtually guaranteed to be moved by March 2nd and depth players like David Booth or Korbinian Holzer, but the name of center Tyler Bozak has popped up.
Montreal has been rumored to be in on Arizona center Antione Vermette, but Coyotes GM Don Maloney is reportedly looking to for a first round pick and a prospect for the free agent who will likely test the market in July. Bozak would likely cost in the same range as Vermette, but the Habs would retain the 28-year-old for another three years at $4.2 Million.
RDS reported on the weekend that Toronto had expressed interest in Canadiens forwards Michael Bournival and Christian Thomas in a perspective deal, so it is very possible that the heavy Habs contingent in Toronto could be the precursor of a trade between the two historic rivals.
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Florida GM Dale Tallon quieted rumors that the Panthers had interest in Leafs winger Phil Kessel, indicating in an interview with Sportsnet’s Gord Stellick that the young club was going to stick with their plan of building through the draft with cornerstones like Aaron Ekblad, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau.
Toronto will likely be looking for a package deal for the 27-year-old sniper, which is more likely to be available to them in the summer. According to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, one team that could jump into the bidding war for Kessel is the Calgary Flames, who have former Leafs GM Brian Burke as their team president.
LeBrun believes that the Leafs can get a significant return for Kessel but that might depend on them taking back a salaried player in the deal or eating some of the winger’s $8 Million salary.
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Larry Brooks of the New York Post reported on Tuesday that the Leafs were asking for a second round pick and a prospect for Mike Santorelli prior to the weekend deal that sent Santorelli to Nashville along with Cody Franson for a first round pick, prospect Brendan Leipsic and a salary dump in Olli Jokinen.
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