Shootout, slugfest costly for Leafs
BUFFALO— The equation isn’t adding up for the Leafs.
Three shootouts, plenty of excitement — but no wins.
That parlay played out again Thursday night in a 5-4 loss to Buffalo, as thrilling a hockey game as the club has played this season.
For a team that has the necessary firepower, it’s becoming a concern.
“We practise it — we do breakaways and shootouts in practice, we mess around with our goalies. It’s one of those things where we might win and we might lose, and we got the short end of it tonight,” said Tyler Bozak, the only Leaf to beat Sabres goalie Ryan Miller in the penalty-shot finish.
The format drew attention at this week’s NHL general managers meeting in Toronto, where some preferred a longer overtime, maybe three-on-three after a certain point.
For the Leafs, though, all that mattered was that they played a strong game for the most part, stood up for themselves in the fisticuffs department, and should have taken home two points after scoring four times in regulation.
Those three squandered points in shootouts could be a factor in the end, with several teams still battling for Eastern Conference playoff berths.
Another concern is the health of forward Leo Komarov, who left in the second period with a suspected hand or arm injury. Post-game, the Leafs labelled it “upper body.” If Komarov isn’t available for Saturday’s date with the Bruins, the Leafs have Marlies captain Ryan Hamilton on hand — recalled after Joffrey Lupul was assessed a two-game suspension for his hit on Victor Hedman in Wednesday’s game.
The game began with a series of huge hits by Sabres pest Patrick Kaleta, teammate Steve Ott — who later scored the winner in the sixth shootout round — and Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. Ott and Phaneuf hammered each other, and Ott laid out Mikhail Grabovski, only to be slammed by Phaneuf.
That led to one of those staged fight scenes that has critics seeing red these days. Kaleta and Colton Orr — plus Frazer McLaren and man-mountain John Scott — tore into each other off a faceoff. While all four drew fighting majors, Orr got the worst of it, also assessed a double minor, 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct.
He’d been on the ice for two seconds and took 29 minutes in penalties.
Orr was sticking up for his teammates against Kaleta, who was running amok. While many fans took to Twitter to comment on the absurdity of staged fights, it’s Orr’s job to keep Kaleta in check.
Minus Orr, Komarov and the suspended Lupul, the Leafs were down to nine forwards.
Red-hot Nazem Kadri bagged two goals and an assist and now has eight points in his last three games. He leads the Leafs in scoring and is among the league leaders, right up there with the likes of John Tavares — drafted first overall by the Islanders in 2009, when Kadri went seventh.
The Leafs were clearly fatigued when it came time to face Ryan Miller one-on-one in the shootout. “We did a lot of good things, but it was tough with nine forwards,” Kadri said. “No excuses, but sometimes we drift from our structure and that’s when we find ourselves in trouble. If we play a complete 60 minutes, we’ll be tough to beat.” The Leafs have just one regulation win in their last seven games (1-3-3). “To me, that’s one game over .500, if that make sense,” Leaf goalie James Reimer told reporters. “I don’t know if it does. Maybe it doesn’t, I don’t know. Too many pucks to the head.” Before the game, Leafs defenceman Mike Komisarek cleared waiv- ers and was set to report to the Marlies. Komisarek will join the AHL club in Chicago for their game Friday night. The Marlies are on a seven-game road trip while Ricoh Coliseum hosts the annual spring home show. Leafs GM Dave Nonis lauded Komisarek for clearing the way for the waiver move and assignment to the Marlies. Komisarek agreed in order to open the door to playing time after being a healthy scratch for weeks. He arrives at the same time as rookie Morgan Rielly, whose major junior club, the Moose Jaw Warriors, was eliminated from playoff contention this past weekend.