MONTRÉAL — The game wasn’t 40 minutes old, and the Montreal faithful were already rejoicing another victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs in song.
Olé! Olé! Olé!
Sure, the home side had mounted a 2-0 first-period lead, but there was still very much a hockey game worth playing. That is, until the Maple Leafs got caved in and rolled over in the second period.
A flurry of Globetrotter-like cross-seam passes and a run of three straight minor penalties by the visitors. Tight grips and leaden feet. Vanished confidence and familiar flaws.
The ice tilted sharply, and all pucks filtered Joseph Woll’s way.
By the time the Canadiens had doubled their lead and essentially removed all mystery from how the night would end, they had outshot the Leafs 16-1 to start the second and chased an under-siege Woll off the sheet.
“I just don’t understand why we can’t go out in the second period and dictate how we’re going to play the period. That’s the difference for me. They dictated the game in the second period. They put their foot on the gas and took it to us,” head coach Craig Berube said following Saturday’s 5-2 loss.
“We go out there and we don’t play with any urgency or any confidence in a second period, because we get down a couple goals. That’s an excuse all day long for me. This is a veteran hockey team. It’s inexcusable. And it’s on me, too. It’s on all of us. And with a veteran team like that, that shouldn’t happen.”
Good hockey teams thrive in the middle frame. They push back when the opposition scores. They don’t shrink at the first sign of duress.
These Maple Leafs are not a good team. Not until they prove otherwise.
And certainly not when they lose their seventh game in eight attempts, the vast majority against teams that finished well below them in the standings last season.
Soft second periods are killing them.
The Leafs have been outscored 32-21 in the second.
“We just gave up all the momentum we built in the first,” William Nyalnder said. “We came out dominating them. And then they make a nice play and score, and I feel like we get pushed back on our heels a little bit versus just keeping on the gas.”
“Second period was real tough,” John Tavares agreed. “Put us in a big hole.”
To a man, the Leafs have been quick to downplay the significance injuries have played in their slide down the standings, but they began this game with six regulars out of the lineup — and lost a seventh.
Jake McCabe (upper body) took a puck to the face in that disastrous second period and did not return. Berube did not offer any info on the severity of the D-man’s injury.
The players are trying to spin positive, but enthusiasm is low and answers are in short supply.
“This builds character. So, obviously, it’s tough right now,” Nylander said. “But in the end, I think it’ll be good for our group.”
Mercifully, the Maple Leafs have a rare three-day break to heal and practise at home before embarking on a four-game U.S. road trip over American Thanksgiving.
They should benefit from the return of a few healthy contributors.
“But until we decide to dig in and play the right way for 60 minutes on a consistent basis,” Berube qualified, “it’s going to be hard to pull yourself out of anything.”
The only positive pull on this miserable evening for Toronto was getting Woll out of the crease.
The goaltender had been their best player through 33 minutes, making 21 saves in a half-night’s work. (“He was unbelievable,” Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. “Could’ve been a lot worse.”) But with the puck forever zipping east-west in the Leafs’ zone, Berube decided to throw backup Dennis Hildeby to the wolves for mop-up work.
“We’re just giving freebies to ’em. I had enough,” Berube explained.
Was pulling Woll a wakeup call for the skaters or an energy preservation tactic?
“Both. We’re down a goalie already.”
Down a goalie. Down three of their top four defencemen, none of whom have a clear timeline for return. And still down a captain.
The Maple Leafs have just one three-game win streak all season, and you’d have to squint pretty far down the road to see when the next one might be coming along.
“We’re not happy with not being able to kind of really get things rolling,” Tavares said. “I don’t want to use the word frustrating, but obviously we’re continuing to work through things here.
“You know, it’s not an excuse to say it’s a long season, but it can be heavy when you want to analyze everything up until this point. We got to continue to stay with the day-to-day, build on the things that we’ve done well.
“Obviously, today wasn’t good enough. So, we got to regroup here, have a few days, and get right back at it.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Since being recalled from his AHL conditioning stint, Woll has started all four games for Toronto. With the team already overworking goalie partner Anthony Stolarz this season, is there any concern that Woll could be leaned on too much?
“We’re not there yet,” Berube says. “But it’s obviously in the back of my mind, for sure.”
The Leafs don’t play again until Wednesday in Columbus, which helps. The staff is also encouraging the competitive Woll to not practice with game-like intensity.
“Just do your thing, then tone it down a bit,” Berube advises. “Because he can go overboard in practice. He’s a hardworking guy, and he likes to compete in there, but it takes a lot of work.”
The goaltender’s teammates are thrilled with the stability and puck play he has brought to the crease.
“We love Woller,” Lorentz says. “He was going through what he went through, and to have him back and just seeing him smiling and being his normal self in the crease is great. You’re happy for him, not just as a hockey player, for him doing his job, but as a person. Because you can see him having fun in the net.
“It’s not easy to take some time off and get back into the swing of things at the NHL speed. The game is so fast now, but he’s done a great job for us.”
• Why didn’t Berube challenge Montreal’s opening goal for interference, even though Brendan Gallagher accidentally on purpose slid into Woll’s crease and made contact?
“Well, it was a tough one,” the coach said. “(Troy) Stecher kind of spun (Gallagher). And then the shot was off. Woll probably wouldn’t have got there. It was close. It was a tough one.”
• Simon Benoit was in Timbits when he first skated at the Canadiens’ home.
“I was really young. When you grow up here, it’s always exciting to come to the Bell Centre,” the Laval, Que., native recalls fondly. “You come here with your team, and you’re, like, six, seven or eight. It’s just exciting to see how big it is.
“You just dream one day of playing either for Montreal or playing in the National.”
• The Leafs hope that Brandon Carlo, who has been off the ice for 10 days nursing a lower-body injury, will skate on Monday. Chris Tanev (upper body) remains out long-term.
Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies (both lower body) travelled to Montreal and skated. Matthews still looks tentative and stiff in his movements.
“We need those guys back,” Lorentz says. “But our mindset has been next man up. It’s an opportunity for other guys to step up and fill a role. And I think we’ve done a great job.”
• Team USA and Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin was in the house for this one. Taking a peek at Lane Hutson and Cole Caufield?
No American skater has more goals this season than Caufield (13).
