The Toronto Maple Leafs discover the hard way that expensive errors against elite competition can be ruthless – in particular against the best contenders such as the avalanche of Colorado and the Golden Knights of Vegas.
After spending an advance of 4-2 against the Colorado avalanche in a 7-4 defeat on Saturday, Toronto has now abandoned three consecutive games, with errors, keys and an inconsistency proving to be the difference.
Given the course of the race in the Atlantic Division, the head coach Craig Berube did not chop the words after the loss, stressing the need for his team to clean his game.
“These are just mistakes for me,” said Berube. “It is a difficult place to come and play, and when you can hold an advance in the third, we are here to stop it. I just have to clean the mistakes. “”
The boss of the bench recognized that against high -level teams such as Colorado and Vegas – which dominated the Leafs in a 5-2 defeat earlier in the week – Any version of an error can be harmful.
“We have to stop making mistakes because they capitalize on them,” added Berube. “These are good teams, they are good players. We did a good job against Mackinnon tonight. I know he got the goal of power game, but we need more guys to intensify and do a job. Errors must go; They must be cleaned because this is what costs us currently, these last two games. These are just mistakes.
The Leafs entered the third period against the avalanche with an advance of a goal, but saw it disappear while the Colorado struck twice in less than five minutes, taking control of the game on the dashboard. Two empty net goals sealed the agreement, but in fact, the collapse was prepared well before that. Despite most of the majority of the competition, Toronto was under constant pressure, obtaining a 27-11 surpassing after two periods.
It was just a matter of time before Colorado crossed.
John Tavares admitted that the team had made too many mistakes, allowing the avalanche to dictate the match despite the high pace of the game.
“Few too many errors that led to opportunities for them, and we couldn’t find another in the third,” said Tavares.
The defeat on Saturday was the second consecutive match where the Leafs were outdated by a competitor of the Stanley Cup. Against Vegas, they dragged 5-0 before showing any sign of life, at the end of 5-2-despite the start of the match with a fight by Matthew Knies.
With the race for the first time in the warming division, Toronto cannot afford to continue to abandon the points. The Leafs now drag the Florida Panthers with four points for first place.
As we did, winning the division could make the difference between an opponent of the Joker against a more difficult match in the first round (in theory) against panthers or lightning.
Toronto had won a section of tight victories, thanks largely to solid goalkeepers, but the cracks are starting to show themselves. During the last two games, the Leafs have returned 12 goals, Ni Joseph Woll or Anthony Stolarz capable of stealing a match for them.
Wednesday, Woll was withdrawn for the first time in his NHL career in the Wednesday match against Vegas. Stolarz, who took the start in Colorado, also had trouble, although the lack of help from the Leafs made him no favor.
With a difficult section of upcoming matches on the calendar, including the Florida Panthers, the Senators of Ottawa, the Flames de Calgary, the Colorado avalanche and the New York Rangers, the Leafs will have to tighten.
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