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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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Coming off one of their most disappointing losses of the season (4-1, Arizona Coyotes) at home on Monday, the Toronto Maple Leafs looked to bounce back Wednesday against the Florida Panthers, their Atlantic Division rival.

A slow start for Toronto gave way to a dominant third period, but it wasn’t enough to lift the Maple Leafs, who fell 2-1 in the shootout. Toronto had been 5-for-5 in overtime/shootout games this season prior to Wednesday’s game.

With the loss, the Leafs move to 14-8-1 on the season. 

TAKEAWAYS

Mixing it up - again

Just 24 hours after saying he wouldn’t be pairing Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner together on a line anytime soon, that’s exactly what Mike Babcock did in Florida. And that wasn’t the only change from Monday’s starting lineup. When the puck dropped, Matthews was centring Marner and Zach Hyman, Nazem Kadri was between Leo Komarov and Nikita Soshnikov, Patrick Marleau had Connor Brown and Matt Martin on his wings, and Tyler Bozak was slotted between James van Riemsdyk and William Nylander. But in accordance with his pattern of late, the Leafs head coach didn’t stick with those lines for long. Nylander and Soshnikov swapped spots in the scoreless first frame and Babcock continued rotating players throughout the night, even appearing to stop trying to match up his lines in the third period. Babcock had long said the Matthews-Marner pairing wouldn’t happen so as not to weaken the Leafs’ other lines. And through the first 10 minutes of the game, no Toronto player looked good – with the exception of Frederik Andersen. But in that period’s second half, Matthews’ line began to show off the speed and skill they’re capable of producing; it wasn’t until well into the second frame the rest of the team caught up (case in point, the Leafs went from 40-per-cent possession after 40 minutes to 52 per cent by the game’s end). The constant changing of linemates was once uncharted territory for the Leafs but now it has become their new norm. However, it may be to the team’s detriment. While the Leafs’ offence once appeared unstoppable, Wednesday was the second time in three games they haven’t managed more than a single goal in a game. That stretch has seen more line tinkering from Babcock than he was doing during the four games Matthews was sidelined with an upper-body injury and the consistency during that period not only led to a six-game win streak, but Toronto outscored its opponents 12-5. 

Getting his groove back

Matthews didn’t shy away from saying he wasn’t happy with his minus-2 performance against Arizona on Monday. He rebounded on Wednesday in a big way as the Leafs’ best forward from start to finish, posting a game-high seven shots on goal and playing a career-high 21:37. Going up against Aleksander Barkov’s line for much of the night, Matthews looked looked like his pre-injury self. Rather than hanging back and playing hesitantly, the 20-year-old was jumping in on the rush again, back-checking well, protecting the puck better and flying all over the ice with power he hasn’t shown since returning from the injury on Saturday. His newly created line with Marner, who was skating in his 100th career game, was Toronto’s best throughout the game and was a force to be reckoned with in the third period. Their group kept consistent pressure on the Panthers (they finished with 68-per-cent possession to lead all of Toronto’s lines) and Matthews and Marner showcased their natural chemistry, as they had their way with the Panthers defence in front of Roberto Luongo’s net and along the boards. Despite their strong performances, that line didn’t generate a goal, marking the first time this season Matthews has gone consecutive games without a point. But while he still appeared to have regained much of his confidence, William Nylander, Matthews’ former linemate, was among those who didn’t have as strong a game. Nylander didn’t have great puck control or show a lot of awareness with the disc or of his positioning on the ice. Despite ending his 11-game goal drought last week, Nylander’s confidence still seems to be lacking.

Kadri keeps comin’

It took well into the third period for the Leafs’ to get on the board, but when they did finally tie the game, it ended up a historic moment for Nazem Kadri. Working off the rush, Connor Brown set up the centreman with a superb pass and Kadri finished it with an equally good shot over the top of Luongo. The score extended Kadri’s point streak to eight games, the longest of his eight-year NHL career. Up until that point, Toronto had been dominating the Panthers in their own zone and a score felt almost inevitable. That it was Kadri who tallied the goal only seemed fitting - he has had especially good success against the Panthers, putting up 21 points in 21 games over his career, while Brown now has 10 points in eight games against Florida. While his offensive prowess earned the Leafs a point, his temper nearly cost them the game. When a pair of cross-checks that were delivered against him went uncalled, Kadri retaliated with one of his own and ended up in the box to not only negate the power play Toronto was on late in the final frame of a tie game, but it gave the Panthers a power play in overtime. The infraction ultimately didn’t prove costly as the Leafs’ penalty kill stood tall once again, finishing 3-for-3 on the night. Toronto’s own power play was stymied just as effectively by the Panthers’ kill, which shut down all three of their opportunities. They’ve gone 5-for-36 (13.8 per cent) with the extra man in their last 14 games. 

Awesome Andersen (again)

A pattern has begun to emerge for Frederik Andersen – the Leafs pledge to help him out by getting off to a good start and then they struggle to get a single shot on net in the first period. That leaves Andersen to take on the role of saviour until the offence finds its legs, and that’s what happened again on Wednesday. The Leafs were outshot by the Panthers 11-2 after more than 11 minutes of play, and while it didn’t feel as lopsided as the stats show, Andersen was making every save he had to with ease. Both he and Luongo, who was sensational at the other end in a 42-save performance, did a good job tracking the puck through traffic, which is what kept the game scoreless through the first 30 minutes. Andersen, who was starting the 200th game of his career, appeared impenetrable after a quick flurry of saves from in tight late in the second frame when an ugly goal by Nick Bjugstad, that went off both Connor Carrick and Andersen, beat the goalie from behind his net to give Florida a 1-0 lead. Andersen didn’t let the fluke rattle him and continued to hold the Panthers at bay whenever the Leafs’ seemingly unrelenting pressure in the Florida zone subsided long enough for the Panthers to get a scoring chance. In overtime, Andersen and Luongo were both great again, as were the players in front of them trading chances. Matthews had a partial breakaway thwarted by the backchecking of Michael Matheson and then Morgan Rielly countered with a great play on Colton Sceviour to prevent a prime scoring chance. Andersen also finished with 42 saves and a .976 save percentage, continuing on his terrific run over his last six games (five goals against, .978 save percentage). 

Next game

The Leafs continue their southern swing on Friday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Follow the action on TSN4 with puck drop at 7:30 p.m.​