Hot Luongo frustrates Maple Leafs
SUNRISE, FLA. • Play a full 60 minutes and usually you’re on to something good in the National Hockey League.
That’s not how it worked out for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center on Tuesday night.
The Leafs were the better team for much of the evening, but lost 3-2 in overtime after Jared McCann broke in alone and beat Curtis McElhinney.
Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo was a large factor, making 37 saves.
The Leafs fell to 6- 4-2 in the second game of back- toback sets and have lost two in a row after winning 13 of their previous 15 games.
The Leafs, off until they play against the Washington Capitals in the Stadium Series game on Saturday in Annapolis, Md., spotted the Panthers a 2- 0 lead and tied the game in the second period.
In the third period, McElhinney, making his 12th appearance of the sea- son, stopped Jamie McGinn from close range during a late William Nylander minor and earlier made a tough toe save on Radim Vrbata. At the other end, Luongo frustrated the Leafs time and again, often under a barrage. With nine minutes to play, Luongo kicked out a Patrick Marleau shot after a nice feed from Morgan Rielly.
Nylander’s diligence paid off in a big way when he did all the work on the tying goal by Zach Hyman at 12: 34 of the second.
The assist was Nylander’s 35th of the season, earning him a US$ 212,500 performance bonus. How the assist came about left us forgetting that there was a time when Leafs coach Mike Babcock had to light a fire under Nylander.
Nylander backchecked with zeal, then stripped Evgenii Dadonov of the puck in the neutral zone and turned quickly into the Florida end. As Keith Yandle closed in, Nylander passed back to Hyman, who put the puck into the net just as Dadonov arrived to check him. Nylander had drawn Luongo out of position, giving Hyman a shot at an open net.
Before the game, Nazem Kadri was asked about the contributions from the Leafs’ second-year players.
“They have been pretty steady, pretty consistent,” Kadri said. “I think depth really helps us out in terms of scoring and offence because if somebody who typically scores is not, there is somebody else to pick up the slack until that person gets going again. Depth has helped throughout (the lineup).”
Hyman’s goal came after Dominic Moore, in the lineup in place of Josh Leivo after sitting out in Tampa, scored on a Kasperi Kapanen rebound at 2:53.
The Panthers’ lead had grown to 2- 0 at 1: 42 of the second period when Jonathan Huberdeau deked past McElhinney, drawing the goalie out of the net. Huberdeau then was able to tuck the puck into the goal as Tomas Plekanec couldn’t get his stick in the way.
As Auston Matthews continues to nurse a shoulder injury, Babcock had Kapanen back on the fourth line with Moore and Leo Komarov. Plekanec played between Hyman and Nylander, this after Babcock said he didn’t think Nylander had a great game at centre versus the Lightning. There could be a day when Nylander is a fulltime centre for the Leafs. He is not ready, yet.
The Leafs outplayed the Panthers in the first period — they had 16 attempts during five- on- five play, while Florida had six — but were down 1- 0 heading into the first intermission.
Huberdeau, behind the Leafs net, drew the attention of each Toronto player on the ice including McElhinney. The goalie was looking in the opposite direction when Huberdeau fed an open Aleksander Barkov, whose shot was in and out of the net at 11:02 before the Leafs knew a goal had been scored.
The Leafs want to cut down on shots against in the final weeks of the regular season. Florida had 31, down from the average of 34.2 the Leafs had allowed entering the game.
“The biggest thing all year is the amount of shots we have given up,” Jake Gardiner said before the game. “If we can tighten up in that area, just breaking pucks out quicker and not making (the goalies) work so hard, we’re going to be better.”