LEAFS’ FRINGE PLAYERS HAVE ROUGH NIGHT
Sparks, Borgman, Carrick and Holl all struggle in home-ice loss to visiting 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 coach Mike Babcock and GM Kyle Dubas they deserve to stay at 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 reboot, 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-4, beaten in speed and fortitude by Charles Hudon for a back-breaking goal in the second period. After that, Sparks’ 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 other defencemen hoping to make Babcock’s decision tougher, had some bumpy moments, with 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 saw only a couple of shots in the first 10 minutes. He reacted in time to make the initial save on a Jesperi Kotkaniemi shot when Holl accidentally steered the puck into the slot, but the rebound went right from Artturi 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.
Babcock and Claude Julien tailored their lineups to have challenges for the players of all skill ranges involved, with the Habs sure to have their hands full when Toronto’s big guns show up at the Bell Centre on Wednesday.