Leafs’ AHLers falter in loss to Habs
Don’t tell all those NHL wannabes in the Maple Leafs lineup that Monday night was a meaningless NHL exhibition game, devoid of stars and a letdown for those fans left holding expensive tickets.
This was their last chance to show Mike Babcock and Kyle Dubas they deserve to stay at the Scotiabank Arena and not be assigned to the Marlies or the whim of the NHL waiver wire.
Yet few took advantage in a 5-1 loss to half of the Montreal Canadiens regulars, the Leafs’ first loss in five pre-season games. The announced crowd of 18,883, few remaining by game’s end, took up a half-derisive chant of “let’s go Marlies.”
AHL goalie of the year Garret Sparks, so-so in his first start in net, took the brunt of Montreal’s assault, five goals on 23 shots through 40 minutes. Whether by design or not, Babcock put him back out to start the third to re-boot, though Curtis McElhinney should take his rightful place as Frederik Andersen’s backup next week when the Habs are here for real. Andreas Borgman, who beat out countryman Calle Rosen among others at last year’s camp for a bottom six spot on defence, was a minus four, beaten in speed and fortitude by Charles Hudon for a back-breaking goal in the second period. After that, Sparks’s attempt at trickery behind his net ended up on Matthew Peca’s stick and eventually in the net as he swam around trying to recover.
The Leafs’ starting trio was the projected fourth line of Andreas Johnsson, Par Lindholm and Kasperi Kapanen, which produced the lone goal. Connor Carrick and Justin Holl, two another defencemen hoping to make Babcock’s decision tougher, had some bumpy moments in the wake of Igor Ozhiganov and Rosen suddenly emerging as the potential third pairing. The rest of the Leafs had difficulties exiting their zone much of the night.
Sparks was looking to rebound from some jittery moments against the Sabres on Friday and only saw a couple of shots in the first 10 minutes. He reacted in time to make the initial save on Jesperi Kotkaniemi when Holl accidentally steered the puck into the slot, but the rebound went right from Arrturi Lehkonen’s skate to his stick for an empty netter. Sparks was bumped by Michael Chaput on a screen shot from Xavier Ouellet, but not enough for the boys in the video replay booth to reverse the Leafs challenge after the puck found a hole on his blocker side. Lehkonen and Ouellet scored twice.