The Toronto Maple Leafs started their three-game California road swing on Tuesday with another spotty and inconsistent effort, as a pair of goals from Stefan Noesen and Evander Kane 50 seconds apart broke a 2-2 tie and gave the San Jose Sharks a 5-2 victory over the Maple Leafs at the SAP Center.
Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner scored for Toronto and Jack Campbell made 33 saves in his first regulation loss in Blue and White, which snapped the Leafs three-game win streak. After a strong first period, Toronto registered only 13 shots on Sharks goalie Martin Jones and were outplayed for most of the remaining 40 minutes.
The Leafs were outshot 18-6 in the middle frame, but were able to stay in the game thanks to Campbell. Matthews tied the game early in the second on his club-leading 46th goal of the season and responded after Antti Suomela’s go-ahead goal with a highlight reel reply from Marner.
I thought (Campbell) battled all through that second period. There (were) a lot of shots, a lot of pucks coming at him. He made some great saves for us there to keep us in the game and give us a chance to win that period and then set us up for the third.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “A lot of things that haven't been issues for us in terms of odd-man rushes against and guys getting behind us -- we've been talking about how we've cleaned that up pretty well, but It came back into our game today, I think, in part due to the pace of play, and we just didn't respond well to it.”
In the third, Noesen beat Justin Holl to a puck that rebounded oddly off the end boards to beat Campbell and less than a minute later the Sharks extended their lead as Matthews turnover resulted in an odd-man break with Kane scoring his second of the game.
“(The Sharks) played really hard today. We just finished a stretch of games where we played against some of the top teams in the league. For me, (tonight) was a harder game for us.” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “Our inability to respond to that and find another level in our game caused a problem where we just -- the ice tilted in that second period and we just couldn't get it back. So that was really tough. The third period to me was pretty even, we just gave up some chances that ended up in our net, but the second period was where they really established their game and took it to us.”
After a brief lull of being able to hold things together late in contests, Toronto returned to their trend of losing composure in the third period in a close contest. It occurred last month in a home loss to Florida, where they led 3-1 entering the final frame and happened once again in a tied game against Buffalo.
This trend may be In part a flaw of roster construction and can’t simply be written off as a symptom of the Leafs injuries on the blueline. It has happened over and over throughout the season and Toronto will have to minimize the reoccurrences over the final four weeks to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Leafs traveled to Southern California on Wednesday and will play the first of back-to-back games against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Thursday.
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