Leafs look for clues after lost weekend
> ISLANDERS 5 > MAPLE LEAFS 1 NEXT GAME: TUESDAY VS. OILERS
BROOKLYN, N.Y.— Just when it looked like the Maple Leafs had their goaltending situation sorted out, up pop these other problems — like scoring and winning on the road.
The Leafs have done little of either, wrapping up an 0-2-0 weekend trip in which they scored a grand total of two times.
On Saturday it was world-beater Carey Price who held them to one goal. But Sunday it was Thomas Greiss backstopping the New York Islanders to a 5-1 win.
“I thought we created a lot of opportunities, but their goalie stood on (his) head, made a lot of great saves,” said rookie centre Auston Matthews, the team’s leading scorer with six goals. “We just have to continue to do what we’re doing, clean up some things defensively.
“Offensively, we’re creating chances. We just have to capitalize on them now.”
The Leafs are winless on the road at 0-3-3. Tyler Bozak said teams are starting to play tighter defensively.
“Everyone came out scoring a lot of goals,” said Bozak. “We’ve played Price, and Greiss had a great game. We ran into a couple of good goalies, but we weren’t hard enough on the puck and didn’t create enough.”
Leafs coach Mike Babcock says he isn’t worried about his team’s lack of scoring the past couple of games.
“It’s not about the goals you score; it’s about the goals you give up,” said Babcock. “Everyone is worried about goal scoring. That’s not an issue on this team.”
Babcock wasn’t happy with Bozak and James van Riemsdyk, both minus-four in a game reminiscent of the bad old days.
“They need to be a lot better,” said Babcock. “Bozak and (van Riemsdyk) have got to lead.”
The ice at the Barclays Center is generally considered the worst in the league, but the Leafs weren’t making excuses.
“Our line had to be better than we were,” said van Riemsdyk. “Obviously there were some bad bounces, but . . . there are no excuses. They capitalized on their chances. Their goalie played pretty good.”
There were other familiar themes, including giving up the first goal before the two-minute mark. It was Jhonas Enroth in net. And a rally fell short.
“We got the game to 2-1 and we got ourselves in a good position, but then they got the third goal and it seemed to break us,” said Babcock. “Defensive-zone faceoffs cost us two goals. Missed assignments. (On Saturday) we had all 20 guys working hard. Tonight, I didn’t think we had 20 guys. We weren’t very good.”
While the Leafs were wrapping up the second of18 back-to-backs on the schedule, the Islanders were playing on four days’ rest and came out hard, with Travis Hamonic and Casey Cizikas scoring in the first period.
The Leafs didn’t seem tired, though, skating with the rested Islanders and keeping pace on the shot clock (35-34 for New York).
Jake Gardiner scored on a slapshot just 50 seconds into the third period, his first goal of the season, to give the Leafs hope. But soon after Enroth, making just his second start, gave the puck to Shane Prince with no Leaf in sight and he made no mistake, restoring the Isles’ two-goal margin.
“The third goal is on me,” said Enroth. “I shouldn’t have gone out (for it). Tough bounce. I should have just left it, stayed in the net.”
Brock Nelson scored at 7:47 of the third and Josh Bailey added one with 44 seconds to go to put the game away. The Islanders are 8-3-2 in their last 13 games against the Leafs.
This marked the first of 14 times that the Leafs will face a rested opponent while playing for the second straight night. Only eight times will a rested Leafs team play a tired opponent. The six-game difference is the most of any NHL club.
“We weren’t tired. It’s pretty early in the season. There are no excuses like that yet,” said Bozak. “Our line wasn’t good enough.”