Leafs come close, but fall short against No. 1 Bolts

Kristen Shilton

TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TAMPA, Fla. – The Toronto Maple Leafs have found success in extra time all season long, but that luck ran out on Monday when the Tampa Bay Lightning edged them 4-3 in a shootout. It was just the third loss Toronto has suffered in its last 16 games, and snapped a four-game winning streak. The Leafs now fall five points behind the Lightning in the Atlantic Division, moving to 39-20-6 on the season.

TAKEAWAYS

Earning their stripes

For the second time in two weeks, the Leafs got to measure themselves against the NHL’s best team in Tampa Bay. And for the second time in two weeks, they found themselves in a fairly even contest that felt like it could belong to either team.

Toronto started by once again giving up the first goal of the game, keeping with a recent trend of putting themselves behind the eight-ball early. Andrej Sustr let go a point shot less than two minutes into the first period that was tipped in front of the net by Chris Kunitz to get Tampa the quick lead. Including Monday, the Leafs have ceded the opening score in four of their last five games, with a 3-1-1 record in that span.

To even the score, James van Riemsdyk continued doing what he does as well as anyone in the NHL – tipping pucks in front of the net – to pot his 26th of the season midway through the first period. Mitch Marner extended that lead in short order, courtesy of a fortuitous deflection of the puck off his skate and past Andrei Vasilevskiy. It was Marner’s 12th goal in his last 18 games, and Monday was another in a series of games where he was among the best, if not the best, Leafs forward on the ice.

But in a game like this, every play (or misplay) has an impact, and it was an errant pass from Roman Polak ending up on the stick of Adam Erne that put Toronto in a 3-2 second period deficit. By the third frame, the Leafs’ power play had gone 0-for-3, but Tyler Bozak finally capitalized with a shortside strike to again tie the game. Marner came calling again late in the frame with a chance to score the go-ahead goal on a penalty shot after being hooked by Victor Hedman, but overplaying the puck doomed the sophomore’s chance to score.

In a brisk overtime frame, the two teams traded ample chances, with Patrick Marleau getting at least two high-quality chances on his own, but the goaltenders stood tall. Toronto had been 6-1 this season in the shootout prior to Monday’s game, but none of William Nylander, Bozak or van Riemsdyk could score, leaving Brayden Point’s lone score as the winner. Afterwards, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said he thought his team played too slow and that the contest wasn’t an example of their best work in any area. Toronto was badly outworked possession-wise at 37.6 per cent, which put too much pressure on Frederik Andersen in a 39-save performance. Overall, the tilt served as a reminder of how beating a good team can come down to who makes the most of their chances when they materialize.

Vying for Vezina

Along with Boston Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask, Vasilevskiy and Andersen are right in the thick of the Vezina Trophy conversation this season, and on Monday both goalies showed flashes of how they played their way into that situation.

Two of the Lightning goals were scored in the same place – at the edge of the right post Andersen hadn’t sealed off, but beyond those flubs the Leafs goaltender was solid in holding a Nikita Kucherov-less attack at bay (Kucherov, the league’s leading scorer, left the game early with an upper-body injury). Andersen made two key point blank saves on Yanni Gourde in the first and second period respectively, and made a couple more while Toronto was trailing 3-2. In the opening minute of the third period, Andersen made a massive save on Steven Stamkos just as the Lightning power play ended to hold the Leafs’ deficit at one goal; minutes later, Bozak potted the tying score.

At the other end of the ice, Vasilevskiy came up big when the Lightning needed him, like on the Leafs’ 5-on-3 power play that resulted in three high-end scoring chances for Toronto. Andersen got an assist from his post midway through the third on a puck he’d lost track of; Vasilevskiy got a little help from a puck that seemed to defy the laws of physics in the second period, when it careened behind him along the goal line without actually crossing it. Andersen has had issues with rebound control over his last few games and did again versus Tampa, giving up several huge rebounds into the slot that could have cost the Leafs long before the end of regulation.

Both goalies made fantastic saves in overtime – Andersen on a blast from Hedman in the circle, Vasilevskiy on a Marleau breakaway – to give their teams a shot at the extra point in the shootout. While both goalies showed well, it was Andersen who carried the heavier workload in turning aside 39 of 42 shots; Vasilevskiy stopped 27 of 30.

Here today…gone tomorrow?

With Auston Matthews out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, Babcock isn’t hesitating to blend his lines in search of the ideal combinations at home and on the road. On Monday, he was looking to balance his offensive attack and moved speedy winger Kasperi Kapanen from the fourth line to the Leafs’ scoring line with Nylander and Zach Hyman.

Getting into the Leafs’ top nine was the type of opportunity Kapanen had been looking for and one he earned by being a standout offensively for Toronto over these last three games. In the first period, Kapanen was backchecking well in the neutral zone and forcing turnovers to try and get his line some more offensive zone chances, of which they didn’t have many, or for very long.

Nylander is still finding a rhythm in the middle and against the NHL’s best team that struggle was more magnified and he wasn’t making the plays he usually can to set up his wingers. But Kapanen is so quick with the puck on his stick he can generate a lot of his own offence and he did at times, but Tampa did a better and better job halting the Leafs in the neutral zone as the second and third period wore on. Where Kapanen also flashed his speed, as he has all season long, was with a terrific short-handed scoring chance in the second period; those can materialize seemingly out of nowhere with Kapanen because of how explosive his first three strides are.

With Babcock showing he isn’t married to many of the Leafs’ current line combinations, there could be a different role for Kapanen on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers, but thus far he’s showing he can find ways to be effective in various capacities for the Leafs. He finished the night with two shots on goal and 37.50 per cent possession.

New sweater, same player

When the Leafs acquired Tomas Plekanec via a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday, they had a specific idea in mind about what role he would play on a relatively young Leafs team. Toronto expected the 35-year-old Czech native to be a strong two-way player, good in the faceoff dot, kill penalties and provide an all-around mature presence on the ice.

Plekanec was able to do most of that in his debut with Toronto – but he also took two minor penalties, including one late in the third period.  Plekanec’s line with Leo Komarov and Josh Leivo was the second one deployed in Monday’s game and Plekanec started off by winning his first-ever faceoff as a Maple Leaf. After finding his footing in the first period, which included taking a roughing penalty, Plekanec got better as the game went on and he adjusted to the speed and pace of Toronto’s game.

The fourth line was on the ice for Johnson’s goal in the second period, but otherwise Plekanec was solid in his own end and had reasonably good possession numbers (40 per cent) on a team that didn’t have one player over 50 per cent. He was also utilized on the penalty kill out of the gate, finishing with 1:19 time on ice short-handed; Babcock said after that his time will go up once Plekanec becomes more familiar with the Leafs’ kill structure.

What Toronto can’t have Plekanec doing is taking a stick penalty late in a tie game. The veteran argued the call, but it put Toronto on the penalty kill for the fourth time in the game. If the Lightning had scored on that chance, it would have tainted Plekanec’s debut in a far more negative light.

In the end, Plekanec was 56 per cent in the faceoff circle, with one shot on goal. Speaking after the game, he said he felt good about how the game had gone overall, acknowledging there were some areas that had to be cleaned up as he continues adjusting to the Leafs’ structure.

Next game

Toronto continues its four-game road trip on Tuesday night against the Panthers.