The Toronto Maple Leafs are learning the hard way that there might be something to that old hockey adage about the value of a full 60-minute effort.  

For the third time in four games, Toronto blew a late lead on Thursday, this time to the Minnesota Wild in a 3-2 loss. It was the Maple Leafs’ first regulation defeat of the season.

Coming off a 5-4 overtime collapse against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, a game they led 4-0, Toronto added two veterans to the lineup for their first regular-season action — defenceman Roman Polak and goalie Jhonas Enroth. Both played a key part in igniting the Maple Leafs to an early lead, but two goals in the final frame ultimately doomed Toronto.

Stepping in for Martin Marincin, who missed the game with a lower-body injury, Polak’s big-bodied presence shook up the team’s defensive pairings. The results were positive from the jump, with Toronto allowing only two shots on goal through the first 16:39 of the opening frame. The Maple Leafs ended the period up 11-5 in shots, and played far better with the puck in their own zone than they had the night before.

Polak hadn't tallied a goal in his last 38 regular-season games, but he ended the drought in the second period, burying his first since January with a blistering point shot past Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk. It was the fourth straight game the Maple Leafs scored first, marking a streak of strong starts.

Auston Matthews, dormant save for an assist since his four-goal debut, added a power-play goal to give Toronto a 2-1 lead in the second. Matthews’ fifth of the season, which leads the NHL, was the third power-play goal for the Maple Leafs, all coming in the last two games after the unit started the season 0-for-8.

Toronto had only netted one third-period goal through three games, but had allowed four, all while they held a lead. They were up 2-1 against the Wild going into the final frame. Replacing Frederik Andersen, who endured a rough finish in Winnipeg, Enroth played a solid 40 minutes before succumbing to a barrage from the Wild. Zac Dalpe evened the score less than three minutes into the period, and Enroth gave up a soft goal to Eric Staal midway through the frame, the nail in the coffin for the Maple Leafs.

Matthews said after Wednesday’s defeat that his team needed to do a better job of playing with a lead, and that remains the case as they prepare to face the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday.


Takeaways

  • Even when he’s not on the scoresheet, Mitch Marner is continually having an impact for the Maple Leafs. On their first power play, Marner was doing the bulk of the work quarterbacking that unit from along the half boards, staying on the ice for most of the man advantage as he held the puck in the Wild zone. His line (with Tyler Bozak and James van Riemsdyk) led the team in power play time.
  • Babcock said in the preseason that sooner or later his young team would figure out they have to get in front of the net if they want to score, rather than trying to generate offence from along the boards. The Leafs changed their approach in Minnesota, doing a better job of getting bodies to the net to create traffic that extended scoring opportunities. The Leafs were generating chances below the line and then working it up to the front of the net, rather than ineffectually dumping and chasing pucks.
  • The Maple Leafs' penalty kill remains a bright spot. Heading into Minnesota they were 7-for-9 on the PK, and went 3-for-3 Thursday. Connor Brown and Milan Michalek did a particularly good job hemming Minnesota in their own zone. Enroth stood out in the first period on the kill, making three big saves just before the period ended.
  • Zach Hyman continues to impress playing alongside Nylander and Matthews. His worker mentality is the cornerstone of his game, and making smart plays along the boards led to key scoring chances for his linemates. A heads-up move by Hyman in the third led to a superb chance for a streaking Nylander, but he knicked the puck off Dubnyk’s skate and the puck went wide. This line still has work to do defensively, but offensively they remain impressive. Nylander grabbed an assist on Matthews’ goal, giving him a point in three of the season’s four games.
  • Morgan Rielly had a rough 24 hours. After a late penalty was costly in the third period against Winnipeg, Rielly looked off his game in Minnesota. With his usual partner Marincin out of the lineup, Rielly was partnered with Connor Carrick, and they both finished minus-two. On the Wild’s first goal, Rielly misread the play which allowed Staal to be set up on a breakaway. Rielly was also on the ice for Dalpe’s goal, where he got turned around as the Wild rushed into the zone. Rielly wasn’t to blame for the goals, but he wasn’t a factor in preventing them either - something the Maple Leafs sorely need him to be. No one is counted upon or used more in Toronto than Rielly and he’ll be looking to bounce back in Chicago.