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Sparks, Leafs struggle in loss to Canadiens; Plus/Minus - Game 5

September 24, 2018, 5:36 PM ET [663 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs dressed a lineup made up mostly of players bound for the American Hockey League and it showed in their first defeat of the exhibition schedule, a 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

Kasperi Kapanen scored for Toronto, but the Leafs struggled defensively, did not get the type of energetic performance that head coach Mike Babcock was looking for from players on the bubble and did not receive a good goaltending performance from Garret Sparks, who allowed a pair of goals from Artturi Lehkonen and Xavier Ouellet and a single tally from Charles Hudon on 36 shots.




Plus/Minus for Game 5

It was expected that the Leafs would make a significant roster cutdown on Monday or Tuesday, but with three games in four nights to finish out the preseason schedule, the club may keep more bodies around to not overwork the players expected to make the 23-man roster.

Minus - Garret Sparks - Sparks got an opportunity to play the entire game and did not take advantage. He was not at fault for Lehkonen’s opening goal, but allowed both Ouellet tallies from long range and was directly responsible for Lehkonen’s second goal because of a flubbed pass behind the net.

The Calder Cup winner was better in the third, stopping all 13 Habs shots, but Sparks’ outing likely puts him further behind Curtis McElhinney in the race for the backup job.

Minus - Andreas Borgman - Paired with Justin Holl, Borgman had a rough night, going -4 in just under 22 minutes of icetime. With good performances from Calle Rosen and Igor Ozhiganov in Buffalo on Saturday, Monday’s outing likely puts the Swedish blueliner on transaction list heading to the AHL.

Plus - Kasperi Kapanen - The best Leaf on the ice, Kapanen showed off his world-class skating ability, beating Canadiens defenders to the puck frequently and got Toronto back in the game momentarily with a goal early in the second period.

Plus - Grundstrom, Brooks and Bracco - Other than Kapanen, the most effective offensive unit was the combo of Brooks and Bracco (who played well in Buffalo) and Grundstrom, who has struggled to be noticeable throughout most of camp.

Bracco had the Leafs best scoring chance in the first from the slot in front of Antti Niemi and combined with Brooks and Grundstrom to create an odd man break in the middle frame.

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The mostly NHL group skated early at the club’s practice facility in Etobicoke, ON on Monday, with new special teams units working together for the first time. True to his word, Babcock put together a talent-laden first power play unit of incumbents Morgan Rielly, Nazem Kadri and Mitch Marner, with Auston Matthews moving up for the second unit and newcomer John Tavares playing the net front position previously occupied by James van Riemsdyk.

The Leafs head coach bristled at the suggestion that he had stacked the top power play unit with the club’s top three centers, leaving the second power play considerable weaker with Johnsson, Patrick Marleau, Tyler Ennis, Josh Leivo and Jake Gardiner.

“I didn’t know I stacked one. The way it’s going to work is like it always does,whoever scores goes out there more.” Babcock said. “Last year, we started out with two equal power play groups, and which one was out there the most…...the one that scored.”

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