PITTSBURGH – The last time the skaters inside Toronto Maple Leafs sweaters flew into Pittsburgh and laid an egg this rotten, they were playing to get their coach fired.
We’re certainly not arguing that is the case now, a mere six games into the first fresh 82-game slate of Sheldon Keefe’s NHL coaching career.
But something is sorely amiss in the early going, as evidenced by a rested team’s sloppy and punchless performance in back-to-back losses to San Jose and Pittsburgh — two teams the supposedly high-octane Leafs should outscore on cruise control.
Instead, the engine light is blinking, and there’s an oil spot swelling on the garage floor.
Dressing a Band-Aid lineup with their multi-ringed core (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang, Jeff Carter, Bryan Rust) ravaged by COVID and injury, the Penguins crumpled up the roster that looked better on paper Saturday and thrashed the Leafs 7-1.
The undrafted Drew Connor (he of 13 career big-league games and listed as a left wing) scored twice playing centre. Defenceman Mike Matheson beat Jake Muzzin wide and Justin Holl to the far post during a wraparound rush goal that was as beautiful as it was rare. Stay-at-home D-man Marcus Pettersson — who has never scored more than twice in a season — jumped up in a rush to pump home the Pens’ fifth marker.
And former (brief) Leafs Brian Boyle and Evan Rodrigues piled on the party.
“They’ve got a winning culture about them. No matter who’s in the lineup, they go in games expecting to win,” Alexander Kerfoot said.
Toronto, conversely, has tiptoed into its games this autumn and hardly looks like a group that, as they say, has turned the page from last spring’s collapse.
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Toronto’s opposition has now scored first in five out of six games.
So even though it was promising to see veteran Jason Spezza strike back immediately after O’Connor opened the scoring and tie the contest 1-1 after the first frame, what transpired afterwards was nothing short of an embarrassment.
Instead of chasing the game, the Leafs simply shrugged and let it whiz by them. Pittsburgh was revving a motorcycle through a bicycle lane.
The Maple Leafs committed four minor penalties in the offensive zone. They gave up two goals in one 15-second span. And, mercifully, after the “CAMP-Bell!” razzes rang out, Keefe threw backup Michael Hutchinson in to shoulder the rest of the goaltending burden in the third period.
The Leafs, now 2-3-1, have now slipped under .500 for the first time in the regular season since Keefe assumed control.
The Penguins, remarkably, have improved to 17-8 all-time when both Crosby and Malkin have been sidelined.
“They got a lot of speed, lot of tenacity. They play a very structured game, very quick game,” Keefe said.
“They’re a team that’s playing without some very key people, but they found success here early in the season despite that, so they’ve got confidence in their ability to do that.”
Confidence, eh?
The Maple Leafs could use a dose of that about now.
Fox’s Fast Five
• Ageless fourth-line wonder Jason Spezza now leads the Leafs with three goals. Not since a 14-year-old me washed dishes and bussed tables at Pizza Hut has a guy worked so hard for minimum wage.
• Travis Dermott was healthy-scratched for the first time this season to keep Timothy Liljegren in rotation.
“We just want Liljegren to stay fresh and stay moving here. We don’t want him sitting for too long,” Keefe explained. “We don’t think he’s done anything to not be in the top six. It just so happens you can only play six.”
• Evan “E-Rod” Rodrigues centred the Penguins top line, which featured winger Kasperi Kapanen — the same guy he was traded to Toronto for in a 2020 package deal.
Coach Mike Sullivan spoke highly of Kapanen ahead of his first game versus his old team.
“There really isn’t any aspect of the game that he can’t play. He’s big and strong. He can play a grind game down low. He’s capable of that. His speed off the rush is very threatening. He can really shoot the puck,” Sullivan said.
“We’re excited and encouraged about where his game can inevitably grow.”
• Alexander Kerfoot and David Kämpf were minus-4. Ondrej Kase, Justin Holl and Jake Muzzin were all minus-3.
• Sullivan on Crosby leading his group to two Stanley Cups (plus a Team Canada World Cup) despite dealing with a wrist injury since 2014:
“What it says about Sid: I just think he’s a competitive guy, loves to play, and he’s tough. He’s tough. There’s no other way to say it. He plays through a lot — not just his wrist. He plays a hard game. He plays in the battle areas. For a player of his stature, that’s a superstar player, he’s a guy that doesn’t play on the perimeter. He does his best work in the traffic. I personally think he’s the best player in the game in the traffic. I just think that’s an indication of his physical toughness and his mental toughness and his competitiveness. He’s just got an appetite to win, and he wants to be on the ice — and he plays through a lot to do it.”
