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The Maple Leafs ended the nightmarish month of November as it began, with a road loss on Hockey Night In Canada to a Canadian team. The Montreal Canadiens on the strength of two goals by Max Pacioretty moved ahead of Toronto in the Eastern Conference standings with a 4-2 victory at the Bell Centre Saturday night.
Carey Price made 34 saves for his 10th win of the season, while Jonathan Bernier 35 saves for the Leafs, who fall to 14-10-3 on the season.
As has been their habit throughout the year, the Leafs allowed the opposition to completely dominate sizable portions of the game. Saturday’s contest was no exception, as Montreal took a 4-0 lead before Toronto got emotionally invested in the game.
The Leafs started the game on the wrong foot, as Carl Gunnarsson was penalized for interference moments after the opening faceoff. Montreal seized on the opportunity, as Pacioretty gave the Habs the lead just 58 seconds in. PK Subban’s breakaway pass got through the Leafs penalty killers to the goal-hanging Canadiens forward, Bernier made the first two stops, but could not corral the rebound before it ended up sneaking over the goal line.
Toronto appeared to tie the game a few minutes later as James van Riemsdyk effectively screened Montreal’s Carey Price from seeing Dion Phaneuf’s point blast get by him, but the officials waved the goal off for goalie interference and nearly tie it again later as Mason Raymond rang a shot off the post, but it was the hometown Habs who were having the hunting luck.
Subban extended Montreal’s lead to 2-0 at 16:13 as he moved around Phil Kessel and fired a shot from the slot past Bernier.
The teams traded chances in the middle frame and each scored twice, as Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec scored his ninth of the year and Pacioretty scored his second of the game short-handed, but the flamboyant Montreal forward raised the ire of the Leafs with his “holstering gun… goal celebration.
Toronto responded with a pair of goals 22 seconds apart, as van Riemsdyk’s 12th goal was allowed to stand this time and Raymond converted a Price rebound for his ninth of the year.
The Canadiens were able to snuff out any Toronto comeback in the third, as Price stopped all 12 Leafs shots and withstood the Leafs playing with an extra attacker for the three minutes of regulation.
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Toronto finished the month with a 4-6-3 record, having lost all seven games on the road, including two games against the 30th place Buffalo Sabres.
The record only reflects a team that has lost it’s way after an October filled with success and promise. The downturn is not a result of one big problem, it is a series of smaller ones that may have to be remedied by tweaking the roster.
Toronto has become solely reliant on the van Riemsdyk, Kessel and Tyler Bozak line for the majority of their offense and are not getting any consistent production from their second and third lines. The injuries to Dave Bolland and Joffrey Lupul have depleted their scoring depth up front and to this point, secondary players such as Nazem Kadri and David Clarkson have not stepped up.
The Leafs are not getting any scoring from their blueline, as the entire seven man defensive corps has only three goals through 27 games, but they are not exactly getting great defensive play in exchange. Phaneuf and Gunnarsson have been a stalwart shutdown pairing, but are being asked to log too many minutes, which will catch up to the Leafs as the season progresses. Cody Franson leads all defensemen with 13 points, but does not have a goal and has regressed defensively from a year ago.
Mark Fraser is a warrior but has been slowed by knee injuries and his lack of speed has begun to be a liability, whereas Jake Gardiner has all the speed and skill in the world, but confounds with lapses in judgment and the lack of motivation to use his gifts.
It is also fair to say after almost 1/3rd of the season complete that the Paul Ranger comeback has not provided the Leafs with the top-four defenseman that played in Tampa four years ago, but a borderline NHLer prone to make giveaways and defensive gaffes.
The goaltending of Bernier and James Reimer has been the backbone of the team through the first two months has decline from a superhuman level to mere mortal and with the other problems this team has, they need their goaltending to cover up their many mistakes.
The Leafs play 10 of their 14 games at Air Canada Center in December, but their schedule gets tougher with games against San Jose, Boston, Chicago, and Pittsburgh. Based on their struggles over the last month, it is getting to the time when GM Dave Nonis may have to be creative and make a move to add a player or give someone like John-Michael Liles another try on the blueline.
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