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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – It’s been too much of a problematic pattern for the Toronto Maple Leafs lately – they can’t hold on to a lead and they can’t bury enough of their chances.

Toronto rallied from a first-period deficit – they are 2-12-0 when trailing after one period – to take a 2-1 lead in the second period, a lead that lasted all of 94 seconds, and when they needed a strong final frame it ended up being their weakest of the night.

“That just can’t happen down the stretch,” surmised Jake Gardiner of giving away another lead after the Maple Leafs’ 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. “We have to start closing out games.”

Head coach Mike Babcock needed all of six words to sum up the previous three hours at the Air Canada Centre:

“We should have won the game.”

It was a sentiment his players shared from a sombre dressing room where they grappled with yet another blown lead and another disappointing end on a night that they felt like they were the better team.

Up until Gabriel Landeskog iced Colorado’s 10th straight victory with an empty-net goal in the final minute, the Leafs (26-18-5) were battling through yet another one-goal affair. All seven of their previous tilts, dating back to Jan. 4, had been decided by a single goal, a span in which Toronto had gone 3-1-3. In three of those losses, the Leafs held a lead at some point in the game.

The margin between victory and defeat is always slim in the NHL. But at least against the Avalanche (27-16-3), on a night where the Leafs held the shot advantage 31-27, what defined the two sides was simple: One team buried its chances, the other one didn’t.

“I thought we played good enough, generated enough chances,” Babcock said. “They didn’t generate that many chances. So in the end we should have won the game, we didn’t. We had lots of opportunity. They scored and we didn’t.”

In one instance, Toronto did seem to score, but upon review the league didn’t agree. While knotted 1-1 in the second period, Auston Matthews shoved a puck past Jonathan Bernier from his crease, capping off a powerful effort from his line with William Nylander and Zach Hyman. The play seemed to give Toronto the lead, but Colorado challenged for goalie interference, After a lengthy review, the call went against Toronto.

“I was pretty surprised,” Matthews said. “But I guess the way he explained it you kind of understand. [I was] in the crease, and his knob and blocker were in my body. It would have been nice to get the benefit of the doubt, just because I don’t think I really interfered with him that much, and I can’t score if I’m not in that position.”

Matthews remained mostly stoic on the bench as the announcement was made, channeling his emotion into his next shift. Taking off on a 2-on-1 with Nylander, Matthews made no mistake with his shot from the high slot, and mimicked the refs’ goal signal in celebration. Toronto’s 2-1 lead marked the first time the red-hot Avalanche, winners of their previous nine games, had trailed in 2018.

“Just made sure the puck was in this time and nothing happened,” Matthews explained after of his reaction. “I was pretty excited about that one.”

Babcock emphasized afterwards the overturned call wasn’t the reason Toronto lost, while also mentioning he received texts from “half the coaches” saying the play wasn’t interference. All the Leafs could control at that point was their response to the frustration, which Matthews delivered on. His line was by far Toronto’s best, generating nine shots on goal and recording 71 per cent possession.

“I thought that line dominated all night long, could have had lots,” Babcock said. “We were set up pretty good to win the game. Over my time in the league, when the scoring chances are set up good, you [usually] end up winning the game.”

With stalwart defenceman Morgan Rielly out of the lineup – on injured reserve with an upper-body injury – the Leafs’ young blueline made a few costly mistakes on Monday. Andreas Borgman, for example, struggled against the speed of the Avalanche. Skating beside Roman Polak, Borgman lost his man on Gabriel Bourque’s opening goal, and had an egregious neutral zone giveaway that led directly to Nail Yakupov’s game-tying goal in the second period.

When too many of their mistakes end up in the back of their net, while not enough of their opponents’ mistakes go in, losses start piling up. The details of the Leafs’ game have been a sticking point all season. Even well past the halfway point – they have 33 games left in their regular season – the Leafs are still growing into the team they hope to become.

“I think we probably got away from what we were doing in the first two periods to be successful, and then just a couple minor mistakes and they were able to capitalize on them,” said Babcock. “I think if we clean those up, we look at a pretty good game by us.”

TAKEAWAYS

Top line kept in check

The Avalanche’s first line, comprised of Nathan MacKinnon, Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, came into Monday’s matchup as the hottest line in hockey. MacKinnon alone had 19 points in his last nine games, and the task for Nazem Kadri, Patrick Marleau and Leo Komarov to keep them off the scoresheet was as daunting as they’d seen since Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning were in town two weeks ago. Kadri’s crew was up for the challenge, though. They were obvious losers of the possession battle at 39 per cent, but they were aggressive on the Avalanche’s best forwards and held them to just two high-danger scoring chances through 40 minutes. In the third, Kadri’s line had a more difficult time containing MacKinnon’s group, as those high-danger chances ballooned to seven, but it wasn’t until Landeskog scored with an empty net that anyone from the trio was on the scoresheet. Babcock was complimentary of Kadri’s line after the game, saying they were “really good” and did a “heck of a job” keeping Colorado’s high-scoring line in check.

Blueliners missing Rielly

Toronto’s rotating crop of young defencemen – Connor Carrick, Travis Dermott and Borgman – were praised by Babcock on Monday for playing so well, he wouldn’t have known who to scratch if Rielly wasn’t sidelined by an arm injury. But while all three played well on Saturday in Ottawa, Borgman had his problems against the Avs and by game’s end, he was credited with a team-high five giveaways, and he and Polak were hemmed into their end for much of the night (39 per cent possession after two periods, up to 47 per cent by the end) and Colorado took advantage of it. But Borgman wasn’t the only one not at his best. Ron Hainsey had a tough night with Jake Gardiner, and both were guilty of careless plays with the puck. Late in the second period, they turned the puck over on the same sequence in the defensive zone, and Frederik Andersen had to come up with one of his best stops of the evening to keep Colorado at bay. Dermott, meanwhile, may have been the Leafs’ best defender. He was strong on the puck all night, and not afraid to assert himself in the defensive zone. He and Connor Carrick finished with 66 per cent possession, pacing all blueliners.

Perplexing power play

Babcock said before Monday’s game that the Leafs’ power play was in a bit of a “lull” right now, and that may have been an understatement. What should be an opportunity for Toronto’s brightest offensive stars to dominate has been a disappointing parade of miscues and missed chances. Against Colorado, the Leafs had more than a minute of 5-on-3 power-play time and put as many shots (one) on net as the Avalanche did while playing short-handed. Toronto’s next power play in the second was slightly improved, but still marked by the same characteristic errors – too many attempts at “cute” passes, not enough pucks on net. Overall, the Avalanche have the second-best penalty kill in the league (84.7 per cent), but they drop to 26th in the league on the road (77.2 per cent). But who their opponent is has made little difference to the Leafs lately on the power play. Monday was the eighth time in their last 11 games that Toronto has failed to convert with the extra man (3-for-28, 10.7 per cent).

Next game

The Leafs head back on the road for two games in two nights, starting with the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday.  ​