BY MARK SPECTOR
sportsnet.ca

CALGARY -- It took 57 seconds and about 300 km to see why the Toronto Maple Leafs are already eight points south of the playoffs with the Christmas break still two games away. As good as they look one night in Edmonton, they are just that bad two nights later in Calgary.

After a solid defensive effort for the final two periods in Edmonton, complete with contributions from their top three lines in a convincing 4-1 victory at Rexall Place Tuesday, it all fell apart for Toronto on a snowy night in Cowtown Thursday.

All in all, the 5-2 loss was a forgettable return to Calgary for Dion Phaneuf.

Was it the return he envisioned, Phaneuf was asked?

"Well, no," he deadpanned. "We got beat 5-2. So no, it wasn't."

With only one line going -- the Mikhail Grabovski unit -- the Leafs were not in this one for long, running their road record to a woeful 4-9-1. The Flames finally cracked an overworked Leafs goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere in the 16th minute of the middle frame, pumping three goals past the beleaguered Leafs ‘tender in a 57-second span.

"They finished their scoring chances and we weren't good for two periods," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. "The only reason it was 1-1 (into the second) was because of Giggy's play. He made three or four incredible saves.

"We had our one line that got the job done. They beat us to pucks pretty much every time in our zone and in their zone. They were outplaying us, simple as that."

Phaneuf made all the headlines with his return to play the team that drafted him with the ninth pick in the 2003 draft. It was the players who went the other way in that deal who did more of the damage however, as Niklas Hagman had a goal and assist for Calgary, while Matt Stajan -- returning from two games off as a healthy scratch -- was very effective, adding one assist.

"He was solid," said Flames head coach Brent Sutter. "We needed Matt to come back and be a good player for us. Put him back with Jarome (Iginla) and Tangs (Alex Tanguay), and I thought he responded real well."

Toronto was ‘Finnished’ off by countrymen Olli Jokinen (goal and two assists) and Hagman. Tanguay was robbed twice in the early going, but finally cracked Giguere at the 15:17 mark of the second period.

Before another minute was played, the score was 4-1 for Calgary.

"We had some really good, quality chances before then," said Sutter, whose club chased Giguere after two periods in favour of backup Jonas Gustavsson, and outshot Toronto 33-19. "We stayed with it. We were assertive in our game."

And Toronto? Not so much.

"Our team got beat," Phaneuf said. "We didn't play near to even close to the way we had to. Give them credit. The bottom line is they beat us in every area of the rink in that second period and they kept coming. We looked like we were a little tentative. Give them credit. They played a full 60 minutes."