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The Maple Leafs still need a reminder to close the door or it can get very cold.
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From a promising start, they allowed the Nashville Predators to build momentum and eventually lost control of the thermostat as the league’s lowest goal producers put four past Joseph Woll and added an empty-netter.
“We should be pissed off,” alternate captain John Tavares said. “It was a really good opportunity to end the week (positively). It should piss us off and get us ready for another big week.”
Our takeaways from a 5-2 loss that split what could’ve been a road sweep and restored the Leafs to first place in the division:
TOO FANCY
The early Leafs goals came from no-hesitation shots, Tavares on the power play with Matthew Knies screening and Mitch Marner’s one-timer from Auston Matthews winning the perfect draw.
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But “shots and directness,” two themes preached by head coach Craig Berube, were difficult to establish the rest of the night. A 3-on-1 was wasted as the Leafs tried for the too-perfect pass, Tavares telegraphing his intention to feed William Nylander on a 2-on-1 and the final power play of the night that could‘ve made it a one-goal game, looked shaky despite the unit’s recent success .
Nashville, meanwhile, finished its 3-on-1 for a big goal.
“They came out and looked more hungry than us in the second period,” Berube said. “They didn’t give us a lot of room, but we didn’t fight for it, either. It was a total flip than what we did to them in the first period.
“I haven’t seen mental mistakes like that in a while.”
BLUELINE BLUES
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It started with gambling that took a toll, especially by Toronto’s defence.
The shutdown pair of Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe got separated a couple of times and were on for three straight goals, two of them at even-strength. McCabe blocked a team-high four shots, but was charged with three giveaways after getting three assists in the win at New York.
Tanev also didn’t cover a puck enough on the 3-on-1, as he slid backwards into Woll, allowing Filip Forsberg to poke in the rebound.
“I’m on the ice for three goals, we probably won’t win too many games,” Tanev understated.
And though Brandon Carlo talked earlier about himself and Morgan Rielly slowly getting on the same page, the former Bruin took a route to the boards to erase a defender on the fourth Nashville goal which seemed to catch Rielly by surprise.
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A late Simon Benoit penalty made a comeback even more difficult.
“We didn’t do a good job re-grouping, staying patient in our game,” Tanev added.
SCOTT’S NOT GOT IT, YET
A couple of nights ago, the Leafs had the hockey gods on their side with Steven Lorentz’s winning goal inadvertently set up by the referee.
Scott Laughton could’ve used such a break on what would’ve been his first goal as a Leaf, a needed pick-me-up as he’s tried to find his way with a new team two weeks after the trade deadline. He has played the past couple of games on fourth-line wing as Berube took him out of the third-line centre slot that was initially to be his role.
Laughton was more or less ducking away from a Brandon Carlo point shot that struck his stick blade and beat Juuse Saros. Laughton looked kind of guilty afterwards. The referees quickly huddled with video review, ruling Laughton’s stick was still too high.
He finshed the night a minus-2.
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