The Toronto Maple Leafs through 10 games lead the NHL in goal scoring with 38 goals, but also lead the NHL in goals allowed with 35. Their ability to start games on time and play competent defensively has them with a disappointing 5-3-2 record and those traits were front and center in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
Toronto once again allowed the opposition to take the lead early, as Riley Nash and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored on the Blue Jackets first two shots on Frederik Andersen before reviving and tying the game before the end of the first on a short-handed marker by Kasperi Kapanen and Auston Matthews scored his club-leading eighth goal of the season.
William Nylander put Toronto in the lead late in the middle from on a loose puck in front of Columbus goalie Joonas Korpisalo, but Alexander Wennberg tied the game midway through the third on the power play.
Andersen was sharp In a 35-save effort, keeping the game tied and preserving a point late in regulation by stopping Cam Atkinson on a breakaway, but a hook by Mitch Marner in overtime that prevented a clear Columbus scoring chance earned Gustav Nyquist a penalty shot and the former Wing scored to give the Jackets the victory.
Babcock after the game indicated that the Jackets two opening goals were due to lost puck battles and giveaways (one by Mitch Marner during a Toronto power play and the other with Dubois outmuscling Matthews for the puck and Martin Marincin puzzlingly standing next to Andersen in the crease), but even though they bounced back they were undone in the end by five undisciplined minor penalties and Marner’s hook of Nyquist in overtime.
“(Marner) had his stick on the guy. So, if you put your stick on a guy's hands, you go to the box. So, when you go to the box that many times – if you remember the previous game, we went to a box too many times. The game before we went to the box too many times. So, after a while it's nobody else. Own it, you can get on with it.” Babcock said.
The Leafs has allowed the opening goal in seven of their 10 games this season and have a 3-2-2 record in those games. While they have the talent and the offensive firepower to make up ground after falling behind, it is not a trend that they want to continue deeper into the season, when scoring gets tougher.
Earning only a point in the first of back-to-back games only puts more of a focus on Tuesday’s contest against the Boston Bruins, the first time the Leafs has visited TD Garden since losing Game 7 of their first round series six months ago. Backup Michael Hutchinson (0-1-1, 3.97 GAA, .886 save %) will make his third start of the season after allowing five goals against in a shootout loss to Montreal and four goals in a 4-3 defeat in Washington earlier this month.
Based on their inefficiency in limited the opposition from good scoring chances early in the season, it will have to be more of a focus for the Leafs to be more disciplined defensively against the 5-1-2 Bruins with one of the most potent scoring lines in hockey.
Tuukka Rask will start in goal for Boston, who will be without center David Krejci, who was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday.
Jake Muzzin on whether the defensive issues against Columbus puts more of an emphasis on playing tighter against the Bruins with Michael Hutchinson in goal on Tuesday: "We're gonna play better defensively, we have to, no matter what. No matter who is in net." #Leafs#TMLTalk
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