Trade deadline clarity is fast coming into focus for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And by the time they play a second Florida-based game in two nights on Thursday, the picture might be completely clear.
The Leafs won three straight games heading into the Olympic break, a mini streak that somewhat muddied the picture in terms of how the club would handle the upcoming March 6 deadline as it moved within six points of a playoff spot. Toronto emerged from the hiatus with a captain coming off the international win of a lifetime and an understanding that if it didn’t keep the victories coming — starting with Wednesday night’s tilt in Tampa, then a date with the Panthers 24 hours later — the team would surely become deadline sellers.
After a 4-2 loss to the Lightning, perhaps Leafs management is already officially sold.
Any chance general manager Brad Treliving would try to add to his club — or, at the very least, hold off on dealing assets away — hinged on Toronto quickly gaining more ground in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. Instead, the Leafs struggled to keep up with the Bolts, as Tampa — the best team in the league since Christmas — whipped the puck around in a fashion that highlighted the growing gap between the Atlantic Division foes.
One, the Lightning, will surely be buyers as they try to win another Stanley Cup. The other, Toronto, is on the verge of moving pieces out the door as part of missing the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.
Auston Matthews, the Leafs captain who wore the ‘C’ for the victorious U.S. Olympic team, made sure to get back in the lineup right away while a few other American and Canadian Olympians will ease in. That just underscored how important it is for Toronto to grab every point available if it is to stay alive in the post-season chase. And while the Leafs did show some fight in Tampa, it’s easy to leave the game thinking two points — or even one — were never really on the table.
“I thought our effort was pretty good to be honest,” Leafs winger Matthew Knies told reporters after the game. “I thought our execution wasn’t there, though. I thought we just could have made some plays and shot more pucks. We had good opportunities and just did the extra pass and I think that killed us.”
The teams emerged from the opening 20 minutes tied 0-0, only because the Bolts had not one, but two goals called back thanks to successful Toronto challenges for offside.
In the second frame, though, Tampa put pucks in the net that weren’t coming off the board. First, Brayden Point — now healthy after being forced to miss the Olympics with Canada thanks to a knee injury — took a pass in the slot, patiently moved to his right and wired a shot up over a sprawling Anthony Stolarz. Less than a minute later, Nikita Kucherov sent Gage Goncalves in alone for a breakaway strike that put the home side up by two. Goncalves crashed into the net himself after depositing the puck there and when Toronto defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson took a swipe at him that earned the Leafs D-man a penalty, it felt like Ekman-Larsson was lashing out with the frustration more than one guy wearing white likely felt.
While the Leafs did manufacture a few chances against Bolts goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, the finish — as Knies noted — just wasn’t there. William Nylander had two clear breakaways in the game and couldn’t squeeze one through, while Knies himself had a side-of-the-net chance he couldn’t cash. Throw in some odd-man rushes early in the game that bore no fruit and you’ve got a recipe for a frustrated Leafs coach.
“First period, I thought we played a good, solid period,” Toronto bench boss Craig Berube said. “We had three two-on-ones in the first period and didn’t get a shot off. We’ve got to execute those plays better. Second period, I thought we were flat early, they got a couple goals and that’s the difference in the game for me.”
There was no issue with execution on the Tampa side 2:59 into third when Kucherov — fresh off recording his 700th career assist on Goncalves’ goal — slammed home a tally of his own on a one-timer from the dot that Stolarz had no chance on. The final nail was lined up when Jake Guentzel, with his team leading 3-0 and fewer than four minutes remaining in the game, had nothing to do besides slide the puck into a Stolarz-less Leafs cage. However, a slight bobble on the handle turned into an unthinkable miss, creating a crazy chain reaction that culminated with Toronto charging back up ice and John Tavares scoring a six-on-four goal that pulled the Buds within two goals with 3:41 to go.
However, after being gifted new life, the Leafs gagged one right back up, turning the puck over behind their own goal line to the wrong guy, as Kucherov wasted no time getting assist No. 701 by finding Point alone in the slot for the latter’s second of the night.
Sure, Knies kept things interesting after that when he scored a softie on Vasilevskiy that was almost as startling to see as Guentzel’s miss, but — from the first-period challenges to Tampa’s strikes in the second through a zany final few minutes — which team would win the game never really felt in doubt.
The only question now is, how many more losses will it take for Toronto management to fully heed the wishes of a growing number of fans and fold the tent?
