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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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The Maple Leafs were looking for their first consecutive wins of 2019 on Friday, but instead dropped a 3-1 decision to the Florida Panthers to record their sixth loss in nine games. Garret Sparks turned in a 26-save performance on the second night of the back-to-back and Mitch Marner dazzled again with some impressive playmaking, but it wasn't enough to pull the Leafs all the way out of their January funk. Toronto dropped to 29-16-2 on the season.

TAKEAWAYS

Live and let down

Less than 24 hours after the Leafs earned a 4-2 statement win over the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning, they had to re-group and avoid a letdown against a Florida Panthers team tied for the second-fewest points in the Eastern Conference and riding a three-game losing streak. But the Panthers came to play, and outmatched their divisional foes.

Toronto managed a few good shifts early and grabbed a lead when Ron Hainsey’s first goal in 23 games wound through traffic from the point and past Roberto Luongo

Quickly, though, the Leafs' defensive mistakes broke them again, this time when Nikita Zaitsev tried dishing the puck precariously to partner Jake Gardiner behind Toronto’s net, where Gardiner was promptly stripped by Mike Hoffman seconds before he tipped Keith Yandle’s point shot past Sparks to tie the game 1-1. 

The goal deflated Toronto, and the team registered just one shot in the final 13.5 minutes of the frame while Florida kept pressing, and came away with the game-winning goal from Mike Matheson less than five minutes after Hoffman’s score. 

After 20 minutes, the Leafs had been outshot 13-4, and had earned just 13 per cent possession. In the second, Toronto’s many miscues on its increasingly stagnant breakouts sapped any offensive spark that could have been lit, prompting coach Mike Babcock to steer his lines away from combinations that just a day earlier had downed the Lightning. 

In short order, Zach Hyman was back with John Tavares and Marner, Auston Matthews joined up with Andreas Johnsson and Connor Brown and William Nylander was demoted to the fourth line with Frederik Gauthier and Par Lindholm.

Whenever the Leafs did find momentum from there, and they did, it was snuffed out by ill-timed penalties (called against Johnsson and Gardiner) and an appalling number of icings that crept steadily towards double-digits. Toronto didn’t give Florida much in the third, and Kasperi Kapanen stood out for his aggressive offence and a series of terrific chances that, much to his visible frustration, went nowhere. 

By the time Frank Vatrano fired in the empty-netter with 1:46 remaining in the third, Toronto had dominated possession at nearly 70 per cent in the third, but lacked any kind of finish around the net to seal their fate with a loss. 

Marner thrives, Matthews tries 

It’s become commonplace this season for Marner to be the best Leafs’ player on the ice, and Friday was no exception. Carrying confidence from his four-game goal-scoring streak, Marner made an impact on nearly every shift, dictating play and moving the puck better than any of Toronto’s forwards. He teed up nearly every good scoring chance the Leafs had in the second period, dragging Toronto back into the game in the middle frame after they faltered out of the gate.

On the penalty kill, Marner was as equally effective as 5-on-5, challenging the Panthers’ power play and stealing pucks to run the clock. In his third year as a pro, Marner has emerged as Toronto’s Swiss army knife, capable of stepping up in every situation and singlehandedly leading the Leafs’ charge, just as he did on Friday. He led all forwards in ice time with 20:27 and had one shot on goal with a team-leading 71 per cent possession. 

While Marner is running wild, his third-year counterpart Matthews hasn’t had the same success. Babcock’s praise of Matthews’ skating lately is well deserved, and the 21-year-old had good jump early against the Panthers getting in on the forecheck and cycling the puck, yet try as he might, Matthews can’t produce points. Not since his rookie season, when Matthews went 13 games without a goal, have his numbers dipped as drastically as now, with just one goal in his last 12 outings.

Matthews did everything possible to break the spell, using all the stick handling tricks up his sleeves that got shots through to Luongo, but not past him. He finished the game at a season-worst minus-3, with two shots on goal and 33 per cent possession. 

Better as he goes

For nearly two weeks, Sparks had to sit on the results of his last start, a 4-0 loss to the New York Islanders that reflected as poor a game as Toronto has played to date all season. It wasn’t by design that Sparks sat so long, but a pair of shots off the mask in practice on Jan. 2 ended up giving him a concussion, and both he and Leafs starter Frederik Andersen were sidelined until last Monday. 

Starting as usual on the second night of Toronto’s back-to-back, Sparks gave up two goals on the first seven shots he faced, first through the five-hole off Hoffman’s deflection, and then he lost the puck in traffic on the shot from Matheson. 

After that, Sparks’ positioning started to look shaky but he shook off jitters and kept battling, unaided by his teammates’ continuous giveaways. Putting that frenzied first period behind him, Sparks settled into a fine performance, complete with several tough saves where the netminder got just enough of the puck to keep it out of his net. In the end, Sparks might have liked to have one of the two goals allowed back, but he gave Toronto every opportunity to come back and win. Sparks ended the night with 26 saves and a .929 save percentage. 

No answers for Nylander

It was assumed Nylander would need time to regain his previous form after missing the first two months of the season in a contract dispute. But 19 games into his year, Nylander has produced one goal and two assists, in what he described post-game as a slump unlike any he's ever experienced as a player. 

Friday’s game was another difficult outing that highlighted some of the issues Nylander’s been working through in his game. He started the night with Matthews and Hyman but was demoted to Toronto’s fourth line with Gauthier and Lindholm by the second period, a move that felt imminent before it happened. 

While Nylander’s understandably trying to get his offensive game rolling, he wasn't helping himself on Friday. Instead of advancing the puck to a teammate on a defensive zone breakout, Nylander was trying to weave through the neutral zone around multiple skaters and just turning the puck over. Rather than supporting his linemates with positive plays, Nylander was too easily pushed off pucks feeding the Panthers’ transition, and along with Matthews was on the ice for both the Panthers’ first goals. 

It’s just not the level Toronto needs or expects Nylander to play at, and as they trudge deeper into the second half of the season suddenly desperate for points, the Leafs’ demands on Nylander to improve don’t project to lessen. He capped off the game at minus-3, with zero shots in 12:15 time on ice. 

South Florida struggles

It’s been over two years since the Leafs last won a road game against the Panthers, dating back to Dec. 28, 2016.

Blue and White Trending

Tracking Leafs’ trends all season long

The Leafs entered Friday’s game having won their last four road tilts and tied with Tampa for the best road winning percentage in the league this season at .725. It was the Panthers who had last handed them a road loss, in a 4-3 overtime defeat on Dec. 15.

Next game

Toronto comes home to face the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday.​