TORONTO – Any questions about the Meltdown in Beantown have been summarily dismissed by members of the Toronto Maple Leafs all season long.
But with the team’s grip on a playoff spot considerably weakened by the current four-game losing streak, last year’s Game 7 collapse suddenly seems topical again. Of course, the only answer of any consequence from the players will be delivered on the ice over the final 10 games of the schedule – a season-defining stretch if there ever was one.
Toronto has been in playoff position for all but a small handful of days since beating Montreal on Oct. 1 to kick off the 2013-14 campaign. Were the Leafs to lose in New Jersey on Sunday night, they could be dropped from the Eastern Conference wild card depending on how Detroit and Columbus fare in their games.
The mere possibility of that would have seemed remote a week ago, when the Leafs were coming off hard-fought victories in Anaheim and Los Angeles. However, they haven’t won another game since leaving California.
“We’re still right there,” captain Dion Phaneuf said after Saturday’s 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. “We’re going to stay upbeat. There’s no time to sit here and feel sorry for ourselves.”
Indeed.
It wouldn’t be surprising if there was at least a hint of tension on the team’s charter flight to Newark following the near-miss against the Habs. Everyone knows what is at stake right now. It must be said that the Leafs haven’t played awful during the current losing streak – they’ve just found ways to make one more mistake than their opponent in each game.
Against Montreal, they surrendered two goals before the seven-minute mark. It was the sixth straight game where they’ve allowed the other team to score first and James Reimer should probably have stopped the Rene Bourque shot that went under his glove to make it 2-0.
However, despite the early hole, the Leafs managed to quickly tie things up on goals from Joffrey Lupul and Tyler Bozak. They rallied again after falling behind 3-2. But with the result hanging in the balance James van Riemsdyk took a goalie interference penalty and Reimer couldn’t get all the way across his crease to stop a stoppable Tomas Plekanec shot and another game slipped by.
“That one stings,” said forward Mason Raymond.
In the aftermath of blowing the 4-1 third-period lead to the Bruins at TD Garden last spring, the Leafs vowed to learn from the experience. This is precisely that type of moment where they need to apply whatever lessons were gleaned from that inglorious defeat.
The pressure is undeniably mounting, which is why Leafs coach Randy Carlyle is trying to accentuate the positives. There are actually quite a few. The team has gone four games without being outshot for the first time all season while displaying plenty of effort and fight.
Hell, in addition to rallying from two deficits against the Habs, they hit three goalposts on shots that beat Carey Price clean and saw sniper Phil Kessel denied on a breakaway. This wasn’t very far from being a victory.
“Those are the things that you try to hang your hat on – that the group reached back and we weren’t panicking and we didn’t throw the gameplan out the door (after falling behind),” said Carlyle. “We just basically knuckled down and bared down and played more as a team and more of what we’re capable of accomplishing.”
The coach is facing a potentially intriguing decision for the game against the Devils. He must at least consider giving 30-year-old journeyman Drew MacIntyre his first ever NHL start in goal with the team playing its second set of back-to-backs in six days.
That is not to pin the losing streak squarely on Reimer, not even remotely. There have been turnovers galore and odd-man rushes and missed assignments throughout those games. However, it can’t entirely be ignored that Reimer got the start in all four losses, which is why he noted that there is now a “healthy sense of urgency” in the Leafs dressing room.
It will be fascinating to see how this group of players can react under the circumstances.
While some of the personnel have changed, the organization can’t completely dismiss what has happened the last two seasons. They were sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference in February 2012 before going completely off the rails by losing 15 of 17 games.
Last year’s team made big improvements and ended an eight-year playoff drought, but the lockout-shortened 2013 campaign will be remembered most for the shocking Game 7 loss to the Bruins.
For those that were around for that one, in particular, there must be a few lingering bad memories. And as the Leafs head into a game against New Jersey that is basically a must-win, they also have to find a way to block out the memories of the current slide.
“There’s no looking back on today, tomorrow,” said Phaneuf. “Tomorrow’s a new day. We’ve got to pull ourselves out of it. It’s this group that’s going to get us out of this bind. We’ve been close but close isn’t good enough right now.”
This just happens to be a group of players that understands that better than most.