TORONTO — You can feel it all going off the rails. The whole thing tilting a little bit more, night after night. The wheels starting to lose their purchase.
It was just an adjustment period, some understandable growing pains after an off-season that came with key changes. Then just a slow start, the pain simply dragging on a bit longer than expected. Now, itâ€s this — losses continuing to pile up, injuries pulling pivotal names at every position out of the lineup, and a team thatâ€s looked off its game from the first night of the campaign.
The latest instalment: a fourth consecutive loss, this one at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings, who stormed into Scotiabank Arena Thursday night, withstood an early show of promise from the home side, before ultimately waving it away and leaving town with an overtime win.
“We just have to play 60 (minutes),†defender Simon Benoit said from the locker room after the dust settled on the Kings†4-3 victory. “I mean, we had the lead. We have to keep the lead there. We just have to shut them down. Theyâ€re a good team, obviously. But in my book, itâ€s not acceptable. We need to bear down and get those two points.â€
It was an issue that stung the blue-and-white twice in this one.
After all the familiar criticism about slow starts, the Maple Leafs came out of the gates with some better jump Thursday night, Bobby McMann drawing first blood eight minutes into the tilt and John Tavares adding a second to give his squad a two-goal lead heading into the first intermission.
Fifteen minutes later, it was all even, L.A.â€s Warren Foegele and Kevin Fiala erasing the advantage. Tavares wrestled it back for the home side yet again, potting another late goal to give Toronto a lead heading into the second intermission.
And again, the Kings answered, wiping that lead off the board courtesy of an Alex Laferriere tally with seven minutes left in the third. By the time that tying goal had found its way past Dennis Hildeby, the comeback had begun to feel inevitable, L.A. outshooting Toronto 30-13 at that point.
The Kings finished them off 35 seconds into overtime, Quinton Byfield cashing in with a game-clinching, night-ending one-timer from the right circle.
“I liked our first period. I thought we did some real good things, defended well. … And then I thought they three-quarter-iced us in the second. Because when we get pucks back in our own zone, weâ€ve got to get out of it. Weâ€ve got to make a play to advance it up the ice. We didnâ€t do a good job of that,†head coach Craig Berube said post-game, assessing the damage. “We got the lead, and I thought we sat back a little too much.
“Again, itâ€s just, advancing that puck up the ice with speed, jumping, getting to holes. Itâ€s confidence for me, a little bit, and puck play. The plays were there, weâ€re just not making them, and not seeing them well enough right now. Weâ€ve got to pick up our pace. Weâ€ve got to be more confident in those plays. To me, thatâ€s the difference in the game.â€
It was a bait-and-switch kind of night for the home side. This time, they started well — but finished wobbly. This time, their defensive game looked more solid — but the offence went quiet, Toronto having to grind out three opportunistic goals on just 15 shots while the Kings peppered Hildeby with 37.
For their head coach, itâ€s all connected.
“We defended a lot better tonight. But we give up that many shots because when we get pucks, weâ€re not advancing them up the ice and getting to the offensive zone. … We werenâ€t there enough,†Berube said. “And when we were there, it was too much in-and-out.â€
The cure for the lack of confidence, in his eyes, is simple — hard work and consistency. Torontoâ€s ex-captain, and current de facto leader, tends to agree.
“I still think we can win more pucks, we can be a little bit quicker with our pace, the way we move the puck up the ice, and how weâ€re just on top of the opponent,†Tavares said. “At times, thereâ€s still a little bit too much separation, and I think there are still loose pucks, 50-50 pucks, that we can be on top of, and we can earn. And then you try to build that line-to-line — set yourself on the right side of it, each line going out on the right side of it, and defending less.â€
“There was improvement everywhere. You just have to put everything together to have a complete game,†Benoit added. “We started well, and then in the second, they really came back, and we just couldnâ€t hold them off.â€
In the here and now, there are positives that can be plucked from the muck. A solid outing from McMann, who used his speed and strength to great effect early in the night before it all went sideways. An impressive display from 35-year-old Tavares, too, who answered the call in the wake of Auston Matthews†injury, giving his club two pivotal goals.
But big-picture, there remains a cloud hanging over these Maple Leafs — the unavoidable reality of this club approaching mid-November still languishing in the Eastern Conference basement. The fact that nearly 20 games into the campaign, theyâ€ve yet to inspire much belief that this season could end with the type of progress they were talking about before it began.
For those in the room, itâ€s not about the expectations at this point, from outside or within the organization. Itâ€s simply about finding a way out of the quicksand before they sink any deeper.
“I donâ€t think you go out and expect anything — I think youâ€ve got to go out there and earn it,†Tavares said. “You know, I think the type of team we have, a veteran team, we know we havenâ€t been at the level that we expect, like Iâ€ve said on a consistent basis. Weâ€ve got to work our way through it. Obviously, itâ€s been a battle for us. Weâ€ve got to continue to stay with it and find our way here.
“Things are only getting tougher and tougher within our own division, within the league. Weâ€ve just got to stay at it, and know that weâ€ve got a lot better in our game, a lot better individually. The urgency has to be high.â€
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