Mounting under pressure
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LOS ANGELES — Mariachi music filled the rink on a Mexican festival night, but the Maple Leafs aren’t in party mode these days.
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This was evident on Saturday night after a 4-2 loss to the Kings at Crypto.com Arena, when they were their worst enemy on two goals against and spent much of the evening killing penalties, stuck in attack and exhausting himself playing from behind.
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Two power-play goals in Los Angeles didn’t help, but the starch he took away from the club was noticeable. This team is no longer marking its way out of trouble, it’s just sinking deeper.
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“You lose three games in a row, the confidence is a bit lower,” said goalkeeper Ilya Samsonov, who continues to try to correct his teammates’ mistakes. “We have no smiles.”
Pierre Engvall was headed up the ice on a promising shorthanded run, but lost the puck that Viktor Arvidsson eventually buried on the game-winning goal.
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They were still down by one early in the third period and managed to kill a minor Mark Giordano, but last defender Rasmus Sandin was brought down by Kevin Fiala, who broke in to clinch him.
Their record fell to 4-4-1 with three straight losses on this trip out West after a win in Winnipeg and a last chance for redemption Sunday in Anaheim. Lose that one apathetically to the last-place Ducks and the pressure will really mount on Coach Sheldon Keefe.
“You want to end up as a team, you can’t shoot yourself in the foot,” he said.
“We don’t lack team confidence, we just have to execute. The game is filled with all sorts of things going on and you never know when your moment is the positive or negative (big) moment.
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“You encourage your team to be good at all times, because you never know if it will be the one who will make the difference in the game.”
Nine games into the National Hockey League season and serious questions are being raised about the strain of Toronto’s new roster, stuck in its own end, haunted by mistakes and unable to unleash its scoring stars.
“You have to give credit to the opposition. For the most part, we are the best version of themselves. LA had just suffered a loss and we knew they were going to play defensively after losing six.
“They made it difficult for us on the wall, but at 5-5 it’s pretty even, the difference was the special teams. And we give them gifts for goals.
If there’s a counterweight to the Leafs’ early inconsistencies, it’s that in the East, the entire conference — save for the hot Boston Bruins — was packed within points of each other heading into Saturday night. Defending Cup champion Colorado had the same record as Toronto at the finish.
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“You keep working, believing in your structure and your system,” defender Morgan Rielly said.
This hockey game felt more like a video game at times with Toronto in their black alternate jerseys, designed by team friend Justin Bieber, while the Kings opted for their silver chrome helmets to augment the white jerseys.
The Leafs were on the defensive for the first 10 minutes, complicated by a call from Calle Jarnkrok. Mitch Marner and Alex Kerfoot nearly turned the tide against the Kings with odd shots, but goaltender Cal Peterson denied them.
With a timeout scheduled before starting their initial power play, the Leafs’ first unit was well organized and got a lucky rebound off the backboard that earned John Tavares his seventh point on special teams.
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“Some mistakes are amplified more than others, but win and lose as a team,” captain Tavares said. We win and lose as a team. Everyone has to be better, including me.
Samsonov, who has more time to rid himself of a cold or flu, will likely sit Sunday for Erik Kallgren.
The Kings erased Tavares’ goal with Justin Holl in the box after an accumulated second period. Adrian Kempe had plenty of net to aim for when Samsonov hooked his stick on a sliding king through.
The struggling Holl left moments later, in part because he swung and missed a bouncing puck that stayed on the Leafs side and allowed more time in the LA zone.
Filip Kral was on the ice for his NHL debut and while Keefe limited his exposure, the regulars didn’t stand out. Moving the puck from their territory through neutral territory without interruption becomes a chore.
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Up front, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews were unable to score in consecutive games and Matthews was left with a rare penalty midway through the third that hindered a comeback. The top six were once again unable to come out clean or generate much when they did. Nick Robertson had certainly hoped for much better when he returned to his hometown.
At even strength, Gabriel Vilardi completed a solid forecheck, with three Leafs caught off guard when Anze Kopitar gave him a backhand in front.
The Leafs recovered one before the end of the period, Engvall in the right place when a wild swing from David Kampf ejected Peteresen in front. But they wasted that momentum on Giordano’s miner.
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