TORONTO — Difficult. Frustrating. Hard. Disappointing. Sucks.
These are five of the adjectives the Toronto Maple Leafs used to describe a homestand in which they faced six strong opponents and failed to secure so much as a single point in the standings.
Here’s a sixth one: Historic.
After dropping a 1-0 nailbiter to the mighty Edmonton Oilers Saturday, the Maple Leafs’ home regulation losing skid now marks their longest home drought in 41 years.
Even wilder: These Leafs became just the second team in NHL history to finish a home stand of six or more games with zero points. They join the 1970-71 L.A. Kings, who went on to miss the playoffs.
If Toronto, a team still intending to make the dance, suffers a similar fate, we will look back at these two dreary November weeks as the fortnight that knocked it out, right?
No team in the Atlantic Division has played more games than Toronto’s 22, and no team in the Atlantic has amassed fewer points (18).
The Leafs aren’t rolling over, but they are most certainly rolling downhill.
“We gave one hell of an effort. It's two talented teams that kind of put the skill aside and just kind of muck it up,” said losing goalie Anthony Stolarz, summing up the tight-checking, coach-approved action nicely. “Tonight we did an amazing job just limiting their chances and getting to the net and making it hard on them, and those are those are fun games to be a part of.”
A tad more fun for the shutout-securing Devon Levi and the Oil, who asserted their inverse position atop the Pacific.
“This was probably our most consistent 60-minute effort,” Stolraz continued. “That's a hell of a hockey team right there, and they're up there in the standings, and we stuck with them every minute of this game.”
True.
NaturalStatTrick awarded Toronto the edge in high-danger chances (11-7), and the Leafs did have a controversial goal wiped off the board when John Tavares’s deft, high-slot tip of a William Nylander shot was deemed above the crossbar after a lengthy review.
“You're just hoping it's a good goal,” Tavares said. “Felt pretty good about it when it went in and during the process.”
Our take: No replay we saw looked conclusively high; we expected the call on the ice to stand.
“That one hurt,” coach Jim Hiller said. “I saw a goal called on the ice. I stared at my monitor for a minute. I couldn't see anything that said it wasn't. They stared at the monitor for four and a half, five minutes, and obviously they found something that I didn't see looking down there.”
Until the bitter end, the Leafs battled hard against the better side.
Auston Matthews desperately blocked Connor McDavid’s shot at the empty net, and the buzzer sounded as Toronto sticks waved at a loose puck around Levi’s crease.
“That’s the kind of effort we’re gonna need right now,” Stolarz said.
Defenceman Chris Tanev, excellent after a night off, felt encouraged that this was the first time all month that the Leafs gave up fewer than three goals.
“You write your stories, but I'm here to tell you we deserve better than that over that six-game home stand.”
Deserve is a tricky word in sports. There’s no column for it on NHL.com.
Sure, the Leafs had some strong stretches and individual performances over this six-pack. But it would be difficult to argue that they were definitively better than Utah, Montreal, New Jersey, Colorado, Minnesota or Edmonton.
“It’s not fun. You want to put on a show for the fans and get everyone excited. We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole here, and no one to blame but ourselves,” Stolarz said. “We have to look at ourselves in the mirror. But if we play like this most nights, and we get that consistent effort up and down the lineup, I think we're going to come out on top.”
Step One: Crawl out of the bottom.
If you’re seeking silver linings, the Leafs appear ready to lean on their better goalie, have clamped down a little defensively, and the Tavares-Nylander combo showed signs of life.
“I guarantee we’re going to keep working to find our way through it, and we'll get through it and be better for it,” Tavares said.
Even better: A fierce schedule relents next week, as the Leafs face Chicago, L.A., and Columbus — two teams in the bottom of their respective divisions, and another with just five wins.
Six points suddenly there for the taking, if they want them.
“This is a hard thing to go through. But what’s your options?” Hiller said. “To me, your option is come out and play your ass off, and hopefully things turn better than they did for us tonight. You got to go do it again the next game. That's just it.
“We have to own where we're at. But I didn't feel like those guys were feeling like they couldn't win. That's for sure.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• Though he was the latest goalie to fall victim to Evan Bouchard’s patented Bouch Bomb, Stolarz was stellar in his first start this season on just one day’s rest, posting a .957 save percentage.
If the Maple Leafs are serious about getting in the win column, Stolarz should start a third consecutive game Tuesday. He’s outplayed mentor Sergei Bobrovsky, changed the scheduled starting plan, and deserves more work.
“He’s an awesome goalie to play in front of,” Gavin McKenna beamed. “Every time he comes back to the bench, he’s always trying to get the boys fired up. He’s a pretty vocal goalie. I haven’t played with many goalies like that, so it’s cool to see. And when you got a guy like that, who’s fired up to be in the net and trying to get the boys fired up, it just makes you want to play that much better for him. So, he’s been awesome for us — and we want to do the same for him.”
• Connor McDavid extended his point streak to 21 games. A new personal best. He’s up to 50 points and 30 primary assists. Simply silly stuff.
• No video acknowledgment for Mike Babcock, who returned to a Scotiabank Arena bench for the first time since guiding the Maple Leafs to three post-seasons.
“I enjoyed the heck out of my first three years, worked with good hockey men. I didn’t enjoy my last year and a half as much. But that’s the business. I really enjoyed my time here,” Babcock told reporters Friday.
Yes, that was a not-so-veiled shot at former GM Kyle Dubas, who took over as Babcock’s boss that last year and a half and fired him in November 2019.
“We went to a situation where we were able to draft Auston. The team got better. We made the playoffs and set a franchise record for points (105),” Babcock continued. “We didn’t have enough success in the playoffs, but that is often what happens with young teams. In the end, they gave me a five-year holiday, which I really enjoyed.”
Babcock said he doesn’t spend time thinking about his Toronto legacy: “This is five years ago. The Beatles broke up.”
• It’s pronounced TWER-berg. Not TOR-berg, TAY-berg or TER-berg.
“I get it all. I’ve gotten TIVER-burg. Whatever,” second-line callup Ryan Tverberg says. “There’s no shortage of what I’ll get.”
• Nice sartorial touch here by the Oilers, who wore Edmonton Elks jerseys into Scotiabank Arena to show support for their city’s CFL squad ahead of Sunday’s Grey Cup.
