Loss to Blackhawks highlights just how fragile Leafs can be. (Via reporterchris)
“That first period was just unacceptable,” said Auston Matthews, who has emerged as a strong voice amid some March struggles. “It’s pretty much playoff hockey now so we’ve got to step up our game, especially to start games in general. That’s two in a row for us that we haven’t got off to a good start and it’s cost us big time and we’ve had to crawl our way back.”
There could be no other conclusion after getting completely caved in for 20 minutes and falling behind 4-0.played a role in the immolation — his season save percentage has dropped from .924 to .920 after allowing eight goals on the last 33 shots and getting hooked in back-to-back games — but the goaltender’s teammates did a lousy job of covering for him, too.
“We turned the puck over a little bit, we didn’t play hard enough, we weren’t quick enough in our own zone, we didn’t skate good enough or compete at a high enough level,” said coach Mike Babcock, perhaps keeping the list of offences even shorter than he could have. Toronto is going to have to get by with a third defensive pairing of Martin Marincin and Igor Ozhiganov for the foreseeable future. It needs the forwards to play with structure and not be so cavalier in the neutral zone.
“Everything kind of feeds off one another,” said Tavares, in explaining the defensive shortcomings. “When one part of the chain isn’t working it kind of affects everything else. When we’re doing things right and we’re executing — we’re in good spots and we’re not turning pucks over — that allows us to get above people in the neutral zone and not let other teams get easy entries, easy forechecks.”
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