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ANAHEIM — Those boos ringing in the Maple Leafs’ ears have nothing to do with Halloween.
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But all the bats in their belfry in this continued slow start could haunt coach Sheldon Keefe and general manager Kyle Dubas as the team returns home on a four-game losing streak.
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It was crowned in monstrous fashion on Sunday, a 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks, who had not won in seven straight games, a game Toronto led all night, 3-1 to a given time with a penalty shot chance to extend it.
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Add that slump to prior losses to lesser lights Arizona, Montreal and on that trip to San Jose and Los Angeles and there’s even more doubt about that new look list Dubas has built and Keefe is trying to tame. .
Dubas was approached for post-game interviews by various Toronto media, but declined. After 10 days away, the Leafs will have time off, practice on Tuesday and an upgraded club from the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday.
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Outside Scotiabank Arena, expect little support or sympathy for the general manager and coach, who needed a strong start this month to erase the memories of another defeat in spring playoffs.
“We’re used to dealing with noises,” Keefe said with a shrug of the poor reception ahead of us.
On his own fate if the losses pile up, he added: “I just want to focus on what I can do here. I have a job to do with the group and the group has responded in the past.
But the Leafs seem to be overemphasizing a simple repeat of what happened a year ago when they won just two of their first seven and then took off to 115 points. Sunday’s setback brought them down to 4-4-2 and it’s a new crew that may – or may not – consolidate.
“I still think (confidence) is very high,” assistant captain Mitch Marner said, while taking the blame for a couple of puck decisions that the Ducks took advantage of. “We started way worse last year and everyone tried to wreak havoc on our brains. It’s outside noise, it’s big in Toronto. It won’t happen with us.
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Trevor Zegras’ second goal of the game beat Erik Kallgren at 2:15 of the extra period after Marner was stopped just short of reaching John Gibson’s gate. What would have been Anaheim’s goal in regulation time was called off for goaltender interference, but the Leafs had plenty of opportunities to clinch in regulation, as well as Marner and Auston Matthews in overtime.
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Standards for Toronto have certainly slipped when playing a 1-6-1 team can be called a “must-win,” but the result failed to relieve Keefe and Dubas.
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The Leafs are still struggling to generate goals and bring in new cast members, although two of them, Denis Malgin and Calle Jarnkrok, scored on Sunday.
The Leafs simply couldn’t pass up a good sustained effort without some sort of self-inflicted injury. One was committed by Filip Kral, in his second NHL game and looked good until he tried to pass through Derek Grant at center just late in the middle frame. .
It took Kallgren to make a breakaway stop and Matthews to take a sharp call. Toronto turned that into their first shorthanded strike of the year, a pass from TJ Brodie that Alex Kerfoot and Jarnkrok converted.
In the third period, Kerfoot had a breakaway hindered enough to warrant a penalty shot, but found no place on Gibson as he came in too tight and shot wide.
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Moments later, Zegras did not miss his break on Kallgren. The Leafs went with their No. 2 guard who, like Ilya Samsonov in Los Angeles the afternoon before, suffered mistakes from teammates at key times.
Anaheim tied the game 3-3 when defenseman Dmitry Kulikov pushed the puck past John Tavares, circled the net and beat Kallgren on the return.
The Leafs have only scored nine goals in the last four losses.
“All losses are zero,” Keefe said of how they squandered Sunday’s lead. “In the second half we looked a lot more like we could be. We struggled on our end and then there are a lot of tired people on the ice who can’t get off and it snowballs. A huge shorthanded goal to start the third and then you bring them back to life.
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William Nylander and Marner set up Matthews for a quick hit at 4:23, giving him two goals on the trip.
The revamped second line of Kerfoot, Tavares and Jarnkrok thought they had scored soon after, with Kerfoot half-raising his stick, but the puck swerved away from an empty net. As Kerfoot looked skyward, Jakob Silfverberg cashed in at the other end.
Toronto regained the lead before the end of the period, thanks to another ad hoc line, Nick Robertson and Nylander setting up Malgin, who moved to the right side with Nylander moved to the centre.
“We didn’t get off to a great start last year, that’s not what we’re looking for this year,” Tavares said between games in Los Angeles and Anaheim. “Every game we had a chance to win. Have we ever played to our abilities? I don’t think so.
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