'Tis the season for giving

It is often said it is better to give than receive.

When it comes to hockey, however, giving the puck away is a cardinal sin - one that has blackened the soul of the Toronto Maple Leafs far too often of late. The Maple Leafs - to their credit - do not play a stuffy, defence-first brand of hockey, but at the same time they have been far too lackadaisical in their own zone and it has cost them dearly.

Last Tuesday, in what was ultimately a 2-1 overtime win against the vastly inferior Carolina Hurricanes, the Leafs were charged with 22 giveaways. In a game they should have won walking away, it very nearly cost them.

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Saturday night at the Air Canada Centre Toronto was even more generous. The Leafs had 24 giveaways, including 16 in the first period, in a 5-3 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. On this night, the Leafs entered the game as the hands-down underdogs, so being tight defensively was certainly in order. How bad is giving the puck up 16 times in one period? Well, consider that Vancouver was only charged with one over the same time frame. Miraculously the teams were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, more a testament to goalie Jonas Gustavsson's contribution than anything else.

The Leafs got off to a terrific start to the season, but have fallen back to the pack in the last few weeks. Being careless - often too casual - with the puck has been their kryptonite.

"Obviously it bothers me a lot," said Leafs coach Ron Wilson. "The Canucks lost their last couple of games so they were focused and ready from the beginning of the game. They knew we had a tough game (Friday). We made a couple of mental mistakes, like leaving the front of the net on that first goal. That shouldn't happen; especially early in the game. We're not tired on the first two shifts of the game."

As much as Wilson was ticked off at his team for turnovers, he found a way to justify them.

"We were skating hard through the neutral zone, but we made a lot of blind plays," Wilson said. "I guess that's what the giveaways mean. Generally, though, if you've got a lot of giveaways, that means you have the puck a lot. People don't look at that. If you have a lot of hits it means you don't have the puck and you have to hit to try to knock people off of it. A lot of these stats I don't even consider; they're so subjective."

The Leafs are on a nasty little lose two, win one streak that has them 2-6 in their last eight games and sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference. In an effort to change things up, Wilson has gone back to the drawing board and when the Los Angeles Kings visit Monday night, they will see a little line shuffle that includes a unit originally expected to be Toronto's top trio - Tim Connolly skating between Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul.

Centre Tyler Bozak has been bumped to a line with Matt Frattin and Joey Crabb while Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin and Clarke MacArthur, who played so well together last season, will be reunited.

Queried about breaking up the Bozak-Kessel-Lupul line, Wilson quantified it by saying: "They score a lot of goals, but they've also been on the ice for a lot of goals against. Tim is pretty healthy now. I don't think we'll change our power play because Bozie has been doing a pretty good job there. It's just a chance for us to find a little bit more balance in scoring and balance defensively, too."

Gustavsson started Saturday against the Canucks, but James Reimer will likely start against the Kings. Reimer has been battling a cold the past few days, but doesn't expect that to affect his ability to stop pucks.

"It's a cold," Reimer said. "It's not like I'm bed-ridden. It's annoying, but nothing that will keep me from playing."

Having missed six weeks with a concussion, Reimer has played decently upon his return, but has not produced the desired results. He is 1-3-1 in his last five games and when asked if he is not quite in the same zone he was at the start of the year, when he opened 4-0-1, he said, "If that's what you see, that's what you see. I've been playing well and just not getting the bounces. That might sound stupid, but I feel good about my game. I'm going to keep working hard and keep having fun and hopefully the puck will start hitting me."

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy will cover the Toronto Maple Leafs for sportsnet.ca for the 2011/12 season.