Khudobin stars in win over Leafs
TORONTO — When the Toronto Maple Leafs were played off the ice to Bad Moon Rising after two periods, it was evident where their night was headed.
The result?
A second straight loss in which they could not score when it counted at home as frustrations mounted, all while running into a defensive buzz saw at even strength Thursday as the Dallas Stars came away with a 2-1 win. After one-goal winger Patrick Marleau hit the post on an empty net, he finally settled the puck down and bagged one on Toronto’s fourth power play of the night. But the normally reliable John Tavares and Mitch Marner were among others whiffing in the slot against Dallas backup goalie Anton Khudobin. The latter gloved a Marner shot before the buzzer to preserve the win.
Forward juggling by coach Mike Babcock did not make a difference in the absence of injured Auston Matthews and the missing William Nylander, while secondary scoring remains elusive. Grumblings about lack of penalty calls on the opposition didn’t hold water as the Leafs had four chances, two in the third period. In dropping their fifth home game of eight, they have only six goals in their last five games on Bay Street and now head to Pittsburgh, which had a 3-0 shutout here two weeks ago.
When they failed to score in the middle frame, they matched the 1994-95 Florida Panthers as the only team to be silenced in five straight second periods on home ice.
Coming into the game, only two other NHL clubs had as many or fewer power-play opportunities than the Leafs’ 31, but at least Toronto was clicking early in the month.
Its first three chances had a couple of close calls, but nothing sustained as the unit is now at 2-for-16 with the team losing four of its last six games overall. With Frederik Andersen pulled following Marleau’s goal with 3:09 to go, the Leafs came in waves, but it was too late. Marner came as close as anyone to scoring on special teams, when during a penalty kill on a rush up the right side and a break to the net Khudobin stayed with Marner as he tried to go low.
Andersen stopped a 2-on-1 with the game scoreless in the second before Jamie Benn scored with a ridiculous tip of a rising Tyler Seguin shot. Devin Shore got behind the Leaf defence to make it 2-0 in the third.
Three Carolina Hurricanes scouts took in Thursday’s match after the Metropolitan Division club double-staffed a couple of recent Toronto home games in what’s believed to be due diligence for a possible pitch on Nylander. With less than a month to go before the restricted free agent must have a deal in place to play in the NHL this season, a reciprocal target for Toronto could be defenceman Brett Pesce, who is playing almost 20 minutes a game for the Hurricanes.
The Leafs staged a nice presentation for Ron Hainsey’s 1,000th game, bringing his wife and three young children to centre ice, where NHL executive Jim Gregory gave him a Tiffany crystal memento and Darryl Sittler delivered an engraved silver stick.