Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews celebrates at the bench after scoring against the Buffalo Sabres at Scotiabank Arena on Nov. 4.Dan Hamilton/USA TODAY Sports
The Maple Leafs performed one of their usual flops against the Sabres on Saturday. They lost despite four points by Mitch Marner and a bra trick from Auston Matthews, whose third goal of the evening prompted someone who lacked a hat to toss her undergarment onto the ice.
This happens to Mick Jagger a lot, but not very often to a hockey player.
Buffalo’s 6-4 victory was Toronto’s fourth defeat in a row and leaves the team with one loss more than wins over its first 11 games of the season. Things could certainly be worse – they could be the Oilers – but assuredly were expected to be better.
Other than the fact that the Sabres regularly throttle the Maple Leafs, this one was hard to figure. Marner put them ahead 1-0 early on and they rallied three times to tie it before succumbing in the third after a deluge of errors.
There was a short-handed goal and another penalty for having too many players on the ice. There was a goal allowed on a breakaway and too little output from anyone not named Marner or Matthews. Second verse, same as the first.
“We are looking to get more from our entire group,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. Slowly he is being waterboarded by it. “We have a bunch of guys that we need to get playing better. There has been a lot of heavy lifting from our top guys right now.”
Sabres survive Matthews’ third hat trick of the season, down Maple Leafs 6-4
The good and the bad of the start to the Maple Leafs’ season
With the Lightning in town at Scotiabank Arena on Monday, Toronto is nearer to last place than it is to Boston at the top of the Atlantic Division. Where have we seen that before? There are six games between now and U.S. Thanksgiving, which is generally when things in the NHL start to become more twitchy. It is regarded as a measuring stick for what could happen the rest of the way.
This is a four-game week and an opportunity to find the right footing. After Tampa Bay, Ottawa pays a visit on Wednesday, Calgary is in Toronto on Friday and Vancouver is in town on Saturday. It has the look of a 3-1 or 2-2 week but that could turn out to be overly optimistic.
“We haven’t played up to our capability for a full 60 minutes yet,” Matthews said late Saturday. The star centre has 11 goals and three hat tricks already. “It is on us to figure that out.”
That the Maple Leafs bumbled away a winnable game is nothing new. They often talk about turning things around and take a few steps forward followed by a few steps back. That is how you get to 5-4-2 from 5-2-1.
“I felt like we beat ourselves,” said Mark Giordano, the 40-year-old defenceman. “Every time we found a way to get back in the game we gave them a freebie. Everyone in our division is playing well and it is going to be a battle to get points every night, so a loss like this stings.
“We know the calibre of team we have but we have to prove that and play better. That is the bottom line.”
Joseph Woll has allowed nine goals in his past two starts but is supported by a Swiss-cheese defence. Gossamer wings are more impenetrable. Defence was always going to be the team’s weakest link and now even more so because of injuries.
Giordano was given Sunday off as a “recovery day” to rest his ancient bones after playing 22 minutes in the back end on Saturday. Morgan Rielly logged just under 27 minutes of ice time, John Klingberg 25 and T.J. Brodie 23.
They mostly played in a five-man rotation with Timothy Liljegren on long-term injured reserved and Jake McCabe about to come off of it. He skated on Sunday and could possibly return to the lineup against Tampa Bay.
Goodness knows Toronto needs him, needs almost anyone who can skate backward.
“To me there are two different stories to this game,” Keefe said after Saturday’s loss. “In the first and second period we made mistakes that they countered on, which is what they do probably better than anybody in the NHL. The third period was the most exhausted I’ve ever seen a corps of defencemen in my time in this league.”
Toronto lost a game in which it threw more hits, won far more faceoffs and had one more power-play opportunity than its opponent. Something has to change more than promises to do better.