NEW YORK – All good streaks must come to an end.
Mitchell Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs captured our imagination with their ridiculous runs.
A record-setting 23-game point streak for the playmaker and a near-record-tying 15-game rip without a regulation loss for his club both came to a screeching halt in a 3-1 loss Thursday in New York City, where the slow-starting Rangers are quietly mounting a streak of their own.
If there is a whisker of positivity to be salvaged from the Leafs’ first 60-minute defeat since Oct. 29(!), it’s that the slightly superstitious Marner can finally shave the unruly moustache he’d been growing through Movember.
“It’s coming off. Right now,” Marner piped post-game. “I’m done with this facial hair. It’s gross. So, it’s going off.”
Yes, when your team has remodelled itself as a defensive juggernaut, carved a comfortable niche in the top tier of the standings, and all your stars are shining, it takes more than one tight loss to kill the mood.
“Fundamentally as a coach I believe we can win every game. No matter what’s happening, that’s my approach,” head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “Our execution was off with the puck here today.
“Just weren’t sharp.”
Truth is, the Maple Leafs almost escaped New York with a win, despite bringing their B-game.
Passes weren’t quite as crisp, neither side gave away too much on the inside, and the Leafs’ uncharacteristically sloppy power play went 0-for-4. “Horrible, really,” Marner said.
Puck management was an issue, too. Toronto committed 29 giveaways to New York’s nine. Marner had six of those, Auston Matthews four.
And yet, at even strength, the game was a 1-1 draw, and the Leafs held an edge in most possession metrics.
“They had two scoring chances, really, and scored on them both,” Keefe said.
A couple of beauties.
Filip Chytil capped off a zippy passing sequence to open the scoring on a first-period power-play.
Michael Bunting knotted the contest in the second frame, extending his own point streak to 10 games.
“Don’t jinx him. Don’t ask him about it,” Marner warned a reporter. “He’s taking some beatdowns to get some goals…. Hopefully he goes on a little run for himself.”
Cue the revenge.
Discarded Leaf Jimmy Vesey pounced on one of those Toronto giveaways, streaked up the wing on an odd-man rush, and tucked a pretty puck high short-side past Matt Murray on the rush for the game-winner.
Vesey, who painted the event as “a measuring stick game” for the Rangers, would tack on the empty-netter for good measure.
“It’s a big win for us. They were red hot,” Vesey said, pumping New York’s victory streak to a season-best five games. “We’re high spirits right now. Going into every game, it feels like we’re going to win.”
No doubt, the Maple Leafs will feel just as confident Saturday, when they expect to snuff out this losing skid at one.
“Everything has gone our way for a really long time,” Keefe reasoned. “That’s not the reality of the NHL.”
On to Washington, where ex-Capital Ilya Samsonov will get the nod and try to exact a measure of his own revenge.
“Good chance to reset and bounce back here on the weekend,” John Tavares said.
“It was a helluva run.”
Fox’s Fast 5
• Timothy Liljegren did not play the third period due to an upper-body injury, and we saw him walk out of the rink with his right hand wrapped. He’ll be assessed Friday.
Jordie Benn is on the trip, so he might make his return from injury as early as Saturday if Liljegren can’t play.
• During a ridiculous 2:50 O-zone possession shift for the Maple Leafs, Keefe threw out a super line of Matthews-Tavares-Marner in attempt to take advantage of tired Rangers legs. It nearly worked.
That’s some dialed-in coaching, and it would not have been possible without the great cycle work by Kerfoot-Kämpf-Engvall that preceded it.
• The Maple Leafs placed right-shot defenceman Axel Rindell on unconditional waivers Thursday for the purposes of contract termination. The 2020 sixth-rounder appeared in six games for the AHL Marlies and five for the ECHL Newfoundland Growlers this season.
The move will free up a contract slot for GM Kyle Dubas, who has been pressed to the 50-contract maximum. This leaves the Philadelphia Flyers as the only club maxed-out on contract slots.
• Morgan Rielly (knee) isn’t traveling with the team, but the injured defenceman was spotted in the Leafs’ room high-fiving Marner post-game during Toronto’s recent homestand.
“The last handful of days have been really positive days for him, and he’s starting to feel better,” Keefe says. “I would think a return to skates is imminent but still a ways away from playing.”
• Michael Bunting, Christmas karaoke star…
…and fashion maven.
