There was a lot of positivity in Leaf land heading into Saturday night’s game at Air Canada Centre.
Riding the high of a Winter Classic victory, a six-game point streak and fielding as healthy a roster as they’ve had in quite a while, it appeared as though things could only go up.
Toronto took on the New York Rangers, a team on the heel end of back-to-back games. There’s every assumption to be made that a team dealing with fatigue may get off to a bit of a slow start. Instead, it was Leafs’ head coach Randy Carlyle looking to rationalize his team’s slow start (a recurring theme all season). But more on that later.
The fans came into the building treated to a pre-game display of inspiring visuals from Wednesday’s outdoor game in Ann Arbor, Michigan. They were into it. When the puck dropped, the Leafs’ top forward unit of James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel generated a few good opportunities.
But not long after that, there wasn’t anything good you could say about their performance. The fans turned on the team quickly, and Joffrey Lupul doesn’t blame them.
"It’s embarrassing," Lupul said immediately following the game. "We’re getting booed off the first period, second period and the end of the game and we deserved it."
To make matters worse, the Leafs could be without two players for an unknown amount of time.
Forward David Clarkson took a shot off the foot and left the game after he tried to skate on it early in the second period. The good news is the foot doesn’t appear to be broken, since he was putting pressure on his left foot, taking it out of his boot while being examined in the first period.
Defenceman Carl Gunnarsson also left in the first period after he fell awkwardly into the corner boards, appearing to favour his shoulder. A regular defensive partner for Dion Phaneuf, a long-term loss at that position could spell trouble.
Still, the absence of both of guys didn’t appear to be a factor in this game.
"No offence to those guys but I don’t know if there were going to help tonight," Lupul added. "It’s certainly not an excuse for how we played tonight. Hopefully they’ll be ready to go for next game."
There weren’t a lot of answers for this performance. Usually there’s some positive element that the Leafs have been able to take away from a game. This wasn’t one of those games.
When addressing the media, Carlyle appeared defeated while searching for some sort of reason as to why his team came out to a performance as they did on Saturday.
"We didn’t check," Carlyle said among many the things his team didn’t do.
It looked like Randy Carlyle’s "template" was finally being followed on a consistent basis over the last week and a half. A game like this one means there’s still a long way to go.
"We felt like we were being more competitive in the areas," Carlyle said about his team’s play before Saturday. "This one kind of sent an A-Bomb."
As for any Winter Classic hangover that could have lingered for the Leafs, Carlyle expected it to last for a short while, but not the whole game.
"I think you could have expected a period. That would be my assessment of it and assumption that if they were going to be flat, you may start out flat for a period but you would be able to get your legs underneath you and get your game going to be at least more competitive," Carlyle added. "It seemed like the third (Rangers) goal, that was the hockey game."
Defenceman Tim Gleason didn’t play against New York and is virtually a certainty to draw in next game. If not for performance reasons, Gunnarsson’s injury could make Gleason’s debut a necessity.
It would be easy to say Saturday night’s trouncing is a blip, but we’ve seen these types of performances creep up every now and then. Into the second half of the season, the Leafs are still very much figuring out who they are.
They’ll have to figure it out fast.