Third-period coughing fits contagious but treatable

FESCHUK continued on S4

With the Maple Leafs in a stretch-run battle for a playoff spot and a flu-like bug ravaging their dressing room, you’ll excuse head coach Sheldon Keefe if he crosses his fingers as he thoroughly sanitizes his hands.

Just when winger William Nylander got back to practice Monday after missing two games to an illness, captain John Tavares and defenceman Justin Holl both called in sick with their own seasonal symptoms.

“We’re hoping it’s something that doesn’t spread,” Keefe said.

The dressing-room contagion in question wasn’t the only potentially infectious hindrance Keefe was endeavouring to keep contained. On Monday, the coach was also attempting to nip in the bud the idea the Leafs are a team prone to coughing up thirdperiod leads like some sunken-eyed patient expelling phlegm. Sure, there’s recent evidence to the contrary, including Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss in Montreal in which the Canadiens tied the game late in a third period that saw Toronto manage precisely one shot on goal in the final 20 minutes of regulation. But it’s also true the Leafs are 21-2-2 when holding a lead at the second intermission.

“It’s also important we don’t overreact and try to create too much of a complex around here,” Keefe said.

It’s crucial, the coach said, that the Leafs “trust ourselves.” Still, there was also last week’s game against the Panthers, in which the Leafs turned a 3-1 thirdperiod advantage into a 5-3 loss. And there was Friday’s adventure of an outing with the lowly Anaheim Ducks, wherein Toronto held a 3-1 advantage heading into the final frame and need overtime to emerge with the expected two points.

TONIGHT

Coyotes at Maple Leafs Scotiabank Arena 7 p.m. (TSN4)

“The trend is that they’re all third periods. But when we look at the issues in each of the games, there’s no real trend for us,” Keefe said.

Indeed, the Panthers loss was easy to hang on the struggles of Michael Hutchinson. The Ducks stumble? Hey, at least Toronto won. And the Montreal sub-mediocrity? As Keefe said, the go-to culprit of remedial team defence wasn’t to blame in that instance — it was more about Toronto’s offence continually failing to possess the puck deep in Montreal territory.

“We’re hoping it’s just a funny week, the way things worked out,” Keefe said.

Maybe it’s just a funny week, and hopefully an educational one.

“As long as you learn from it, then it’s a good experience,” said Jake Muzzin, the Toronto defenceman. “Because that we’re in that situation is a good thing. We’re in the lead. It’s a good situation for us to be in. We just have to get better at managing it, and it’s a good thing to learn.”

Still, it probably says something that the Leafs have allowed 71 third-period goals this season — third-most in the league behind the last-place Red Wings and struggling Sharks. And it probably says something that Toronto’s third-period goal differential is a eyebrow-raising minusthree.

Glimpse the third-period goal differentials of teams with a more proven track record of winning big games and you generally don’t see negative numbers. The Capitals, who’ve scored more third-period goals than anyone in the league, were a plus-20 in third periods heading into Monday. Ditto the Bruins. The Penguins were a plus-16. That’s not a be-all, end-all number, but it might say something about a team’s penchant for closing games.

If the Leafs are afflicted with an on-ice ailment, it’s an occasionally contagious tendency to panic under pressure.

“There is that little bit of panic in there, and that’s what we’re trying to eliminate,” Muzzin said. “We have to have our foot on the gas for a full 60. If we’re up 5-2 or we’re up 1-0, let’s not sit back and let teams take it to us. We’ve got to be comfortable in those uncomfortable situations when a team is pressing.”

As Jason Spezza, the 36-yearold Leafs centreman, was pointing out, this conversation isn’t unique to Leafland. He said he remembers similar internal dialogue about the necessity for game-closing killer instinct in his previous stop in Dallas.

“I watch other games around the league and other teams hold leads the same way (as the Leafs) sometimes,” Spezza said. “You watch the Boston Bruins hold a lead — they’re in their end a lot, and they do such a good job of it. They’re probably the most comfortable team doing it in the East because they’ve done it so long.”

The teaching point that’s being stressed by Keefe, apparently, is simple: Keep doing what you’re doing. Keep making plays. Keep attacking. Keep the opposition on their heels instead of laying back on yours.

“The coach did a good job today of encouraging us to still make plays with the puck,” Spezza said. “There also come times when you’ve just got to punt it — you’ve just got to survive. You’ve got to get it into the neutral zone and get five fresh guys out there. But you don’t want that to be a whole period, or a whole half a game.”

Ultimately, it’s as much about attitude as it is about strategy. As Muzzin said Monday: Any Leaf that’s sent over the boards in the third period needs to have a common mission.

“You’ve got to want the puck,” Muzzin said.

Right now, it’s apparently not a universal enough desire.

“Sometimes we don’t want it, because we don’t want to make the mistake,” Muzzin said.

In other words, you can see why Keefe doesn’t want to overreact to his team’s underwhelming late-game play of late. Self-fulfilling prophesies, if you pass them around enough, can take up residence in dressing-room psyches in the same way a flu bug can threaten to decimate a lineup. Not that there’s any reason to panic, so long as the mistakes of a funny week go down as teachable moments. Not that there’s any reason to overthink things, so long as the Leafs soon get over whatever’s ailing them.

“It’s like those basketball guys that want the ball in the last second to make the winning shot — it’s that type of situation we’re talking about,” Muzzin said. “Everybody has to have that mentality: I’m going to make the play. I’m going to make everything all right.”