The Toronto Maple Leafs failed to find a way out of their winter slump, losing 4-2 to the Arizona Coyotes at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday. The Leafs generated little momentum from Travis Dermott’s first period opening goal, surrendering a pair of goals to Mario Kempe and Clayton Keller in the second period.
John Tavares tied the game with his 30th goal of the season early in the third period, but Vinnie Hinostroza replied just over three minutes later to give the Coyotes their seventh win in the last eight games at Air Canada Centre/Scotiabank Arena.
The Leafs have been in a funk since Christmas, especially at home where they have lost six of the seven games. The injury to Frederik Andersen in part revealed how important the goaltender was to their success, but the club’s deficiencies on defense have been exposed over the last three weeks with their offense going through slumps.
Head coach Mike Babcock once again through his forward line combos in the mixmaster at the Mastercard Centre on Monday, with the most notable change being the union of Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner alongside veteran Patrick Marleau. Kasperi Kapanen replaced Marner on the unit with Zach Hyman and John Tavares, Connor Brown moved to left wing with Nazem Kadri and William Nylander and extra defenseman Justin Holl skated with Par Lindholm and Frederik Gauthier on a makeshift fourth line with Andreas Johnsson out with a concussion.
“I like the work we put in (against Arizona), I like how much we had the puck, (but) the bottom line is we didn’t generate enough offense to win the game. We’ve got to find a way to get better.” Babcock said. “The biggest challenge (for Matthews) is when you play with Mitch, and I’ve been playing him against the best players all the time, you got to play against the best players. That means you have to really commit without the puck.”
Babcock has very rarely played the Leafs cornerstone players together and indicated that the pairing may not last long.
“We’re going to change things around for a bit, but I’m not telling you that it’s going to last the warmup, a period (or) a game, that’s just what we had today for the skate.”
Here's the play that knocked Andreas Johnsson out of tonight's game. Tough break for him, who has been playing well lately. #LeafsForeverpic.twitter.com/BJHLgRifdE
Johnsson went into the boards headfirst after being knocked down by Coyotes defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson in the first period and did not return. It is expected that winger Trevor Moore will be brought up on emergency recall to play the Leafs final game before the All-Star break against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
Jake Gardiner was a scratch on Sunday due to back spasms and Dermott replaced the blueliner on the second pairing alongside Nikita Zaitsev. Martin Marincin was inserted in the lineup and he and partner Igor Ozhiganov were victimized on Kempe’s tying goal.
With one game to go before an eight-day break, it is likely that Gardiner will sit against the Caps in hopes of getting healthy when the Leafs return to action in Detroit on February 1.
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