Advertisement

Well, they weren’t going to win forever, but this was an emphatic way to end the winning streak.

Ray Ferraro had a pretty good comment as this game got out of control: “In the NHL, if you let off 5-10% one night while the other team plays great, this is what happens.”

Dallas looked pretty good on this night, and made the Leafs pay time and again with their speed and timely, clinical finishing. The Leafs couldn’t get a save to help settle them down, either, from Bernier or Reimer. Mistake, turnover, goal… rinse and repeat. It was one of those nights.

A big factor, to these eyes, how was how ineffectual the Leafs PP was. The Leaf PP repeatedly stunted their own momentum, and gave up a shorthanded goal (4-1 goal) as well as a goal just as the PP expired (2-1 goal). The Stars were extremely aggressive on the half wall, where Kessel sets up shop, and the points, taking away the d to d lane effectively. Dallas put their speed to work on the PK and it gave the Leafs fits. Instead of providing chances to tie it up or get back in the game, the Leafs conceded a couple of crucial goals that sunk them in this game as a direct result of a malfunctioning PP. It’s not like the man advantage has been anything but a major asset to this team all season though, so we’ll just have to flush this one.

The one thing that I’m wondering about is the Leafs’ quantity of blowouts the Leafs have endured this season, and if it is higher than most. To my count, this is the Leafs’ fifth game that was over and done with by half way through the game (Columbus, Vancouver, New York, Dallas, Carolina), and the third in the last three weeks. Not sure if that’s high or not.

The good news is that the Leafs have attempted to pay up on all of their PDO/great goaltending karma in one night.

Flush it and bring it in Winnipeg, for Reimer and Randy.

Leafs-Dallas-Shot-Chart

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Dallas Stars Boxscore

PLAYERGATOI+/-SOGPIMFWFLHITSBSTAKEGIVE
Carter Ashton0010:52020001110
Troy Bodie0015:43-120013101
Tyler Bozak0014:38-410870000
Cody Franson0021:17-210001100
Jake Gardiner0022:07-230000100
Tim Gleason0018:24-102002100
Carl Gunnarsson0116:30-112000200
Peter Holland0016:26010481020
Nazem Kadri0113:23-1012490001
Phil Kessel0014:03-420000210
Nikolai Kulemin1014:20120002001
Joffrey Lupul0016:57-130000001
Jay McClement0013:58010890000
Colton Orr007:160014003000
Dion Phaneuf0022:02-220001101
Mason Raymond0018:17-110101101
Morgan Rielly0020:02-220000100
James van Riemsdyk0016:15-310001000

—–

MLHS, in cooperation with Draft Street, is offering a $500 Fantasy Contest for the Saturday, January 25 NHL games!

Entry is FREE, with first place taking home $100.  Click below to enter.

Previous articleRandy Carlyle – DAL Post Game
Next articleGame Day Notes: Game #54, Leafs at Jets
Alec Brownscombe is the founder and editor of MapleLeafsHotStove.com, where he has written daily about the Leafs since September of 2008. He's published five magazines on the team entitled "The Maple Leafs Annual" with distribution in Chapters and newsstands across the country. He also co-hosted "The Battle of the Atlantic," a weekly show on TSN1200 that covered the Leafs and the NHL in-depth. Alec is a graduate of Trent University and Algonquin College with his diploma in Journalism. In 2014, he was awarded Canada's Best Hockey Blogger honours by Molson Canadian. You can contact him at alec.brownscombe@mapleleafshotstove.com.