Whether it’s May 20th or November 27th, losing stinks.
That said, considering all the injuries surrounding the Maple Leafs right now, I’m willing to give the team a pass for Wednesday night’s 5-1 loss in Sunrise. As far as I’m concerned, it was the classic throwaway game —a scheduled loss, if you will. It happens, and quite frankly, I won’t be losing sleep over it.
Truthfully, the score may have not been flattering, but honestly, I didn’t think they were half bad. They had a poor first 10 minutes, and overall, I thought a few mistakes cost them the game. That’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes, especially when you’re playing the defending Stanley Cup champions.
In the grand scheme things, I didn’t think that Toronto strayed away from Craig Berube’s system. And that’s a good thing. At the end of the day, Florida potted two power play goals and one shorty. Essentially, that was the difference.
Simply put, with that roster, they were going to be hard-pressed to walk out of Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise with two points. On top of that, they had to deal with a pissed off Panthers team who was coming off a four-game losing streak. As soon as I saw how many “f” bombs Cats head coach Paul Maurice delivered at practice on Tuesday, I knew that the Leafs were cooked.
Ultimately, not that I’m a big fan of consolation prizes or anything, but I think the Leafs should be applauded for their efforts lately. They just went 7-2-0 without their captain. He scored 69 goals last year, and year in and year out, he’s a Hart Trophy candidate. Just for good measure, a plethora of others have missed extensive time as well.
This bunch – at least what’s left of them – have done super well.
And so, all they can do now is look forward to Saturday night’s tilt in Tampa. Nothing’s been confirmed yet, but I would put good money on both Auston Matthews and Matthew Knies returning to the Maple Leafs lineup.
The result stunk, but big picture, the Leafs are in a very good spot at American Thanksgiving.
