Leafs caught off guard by woeful Avalanche
The Leafs stunk, but more or less all the Leafs stunk. “Only Freddie came to play,” said Mitch Marner, who scored Toronto’s third goal in a 6-3 loss to a Colorado Avalanche team that had dropped 13 of 16 coming in. Frederik Andersen was back after missing eight games, but the rest of the Leafs deserved what they got.
But did Jake Gardiner? With the score 2-2 in the second period Gardiner chased down a puck that had been jarred loose on a Leafs power play, but he missed part of Carl Soderberg and the puck, so Soderberg pantsed him and scored. Gardiner was benched for the final 5:31 of the period. Through two, the Leafs were outshot 31-13.
When Gardiner touched the puck to start the third, a few people booed. The next time, more. Then more. It continued through the third: never a majority, but enough that you could hear it. Gardiner was buried: Toronto had a team-worst six shot attempts for and 22 against with him on the ice. Just that one Colorado goal, though. In fact, he was even on the night.
But Gardiner was attacked by some of the usually placid crowd. That hadn’t happened to one Leaf in years. His mistakes are big fat red buzzers, and they overshadow his many good works. His teammates defended him. Morgan Rielly, one of Gardiner’s best friends, said, “I mean, guys make mistakes out there. That's the way the game is. It's played on ice.” He bit off that last word.
Gardiner wasn’t as downcast as after the bad endings of his two playoff Game 7s in Boston, but he was emotional.
“Yeah, I mean, that hasn't happened before, that's for sure,” said Gardiner. “Not something you want to hear. But plays happen in the game and fans are passionate and they want to win.”
It felt like an accumulation of things. Rough night.
Line theory: Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen entered the game in the top five in league scoring, and Gabriel Landeskog was tied for fifth in goals. Asked whether he believed in one big line, Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said, “Whatever works best for their team. You know, the team that's running away with hockey though, that's not what they're doing. They're spread out, they've just got good players on every line. Those are the ones that tend to play a long time in the spring, too.” Landeskog and Rantanen scored Colorado’s first and second goal, after the Leafs had gone up 2-0.
Takeaway: The Leafs finally got the gang back together, and were utterly outclassed. Two wins in their last seven. One of their worst efforts of the year.
Up next: The aforementioned team that’s running away with hockey, the Tampa Bay Lightning, on Thursday in Florida.