The Toronto Maple Leafs inability to perform well in back-to-back games has been an issue at times during head coach Mike Babcock’s tenure, but it has been a glaring flaw this season and showed once again in a 5-4 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Sunday.
Toronto showed little energy and a complete lack of defensive structure in the first period, falling behind 4-1 on a pair of goals from Patrick Kane and singles from rookie Kirby Dach and Jonathan Toews. The Leafs scratched away at the Hawks lead, narrowing the gap to 4-3 in the third on William Nylander’s second goal of the game and John Tavares power-play marker, but Brandon Saad provided some insurance late In regulation.
The Leafs registered 57 shots on Robin Lehner (including 26 in the third period), but could not dig themselves out of the hole created by their terrible start.
“We haven't done a good enough job this year. That was our fourth or fifth (loss in back-to-backs) this year.” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “We have [14] back-to-backs this year, you've got to get going, you've got to get points, you've got to get playing well. You have to leave the rink feeling good. We've just been on a good real good run here, feeling good about ourselves, started to get our swagger back and then we have to get regrouped after today.”
After the game, Babcock was hesitant to put all the blame on backup Michael Hutchinson, saying that a couple of the first period goals were not on him but on the team, but on Monday the club placed the 29-year-old goalie on waivers.
Hutchinson is 0-4-1, with a 4.44 GAA and .879 save percentage in five starts for Toronto this season. While it is true that the Leafs backup has not played great, he has provided good enough goaltending for the club to win if they put forth the same type of effort they display for starter Frederik Andersen.
In his starts, the Leafs blew a 4-1 third-period lead on home ice to Montreal and lost 6-5 in a shootout and allowed three goals in a 78-second span to Washington in a 4-3 loss on October 16.
As with the waiving of backup Jhonas Enroth three years ago, Hutchinson is the scapegoat for a team that has played their worst hockey of the season in the second of back-to-back games. The Leafs have still not recovered from arguably Kyle Dubas’ worst mistake as GM in placing of veteran Curtis McElhinney on waivers.
The Garret Sparks experiment was a dismal failure, the acquisition of Hutchinson was a patchwork fix when both Andersen and Sparks were injured last December, and the Leafs attempt to address the backup situation was by signing the chronically-injured Michal Neuvirth to a professional tryout.
It is expected that Kasimir Kaskisuo will be recalled to backup Andersen on Long Island on Wednesday. Kaskisuo, 26, was the Toronto Marlies goalie for their deep run in the Calder Cup Playoffs last spring and has a 6-1-1 record, 2.13 GAA and .928 save percentage in the AHL this season, but the Leafs may be looking outside the organization for a long term answer.
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After an MRI on Sunday, the Leafs indicated that the ankle injury suffered by Mitch Marner in Saturday’s loss to Philadelphia is expected to keep him out of the lineup for a minimum of four weeks. Although the club did not specify the type of injury, it appeared to be a high ankle sprain, which could extend longer than the four-week timeframe.
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