This tilt delivered on the promise of a midseason battle between two bottom five teams.
The Leafs had a poor start to blame again, as they were a little flat, sloppy, and lacking in rhythm despite a misleading 6-0 shot count out of the blocks. They carried the edge in play for the most part in this game, although there were significant spells where the Leafs were in control but nonthreatening offensively.
Despite a valiant push as the game wore on, the Leafs remain one of only two teams without a win when trailing after two periods (0-12), and have only one win when trailing after the opening 20.
The difference proved to be two Blue Jackets goals generated off point shots, with the Leaf in the area – first Froese, second Parenteau – failing to tie up the man in front. All four goals were junky — Seth Jones’ targeted slapper leading to Boone Jenner’s redirect the nicest among them — befitting a mundane midweek, midseason matchup between two basement dwellers.
James Reimer had no chance on goal number one, and maybe could’ve smothered the second more effectively (Parenteau should be tying up his man there rather than searching for the loose puck), but overall he played well enough for the Leafs to win.
Shots were 42-22 Leafs, all-situations shot attempts were a resounding 94-50 Leafs, and even-strength shot attempts were 72-45, although a lot of that was down to the Jackets parking the bus and the Leafs pouring it on in search of a goal — it was a much more modest 42-34 Leaf edge at 5v5 in score-close situations (in this case, the first 36:16 of the game).
The Leafs have now lost three in a row and have scored just two goals over those 180 minutes of action.
Some quick notes:
– Can’t fault the effort from Shawn Matthias, who was looking to take advantage of an opportunity up the lineup and was the hardest working player for the Leafs. Looked like he was on the verge of picking the puck up with his glove and scrumming it over the goal line after his umpteenth goalmouth scramble bore no fruit. Strong in possession in the offensive zone, he spent a lot of time protecting the puck along the boards and battling at the net front, but he’s lacking both a goalscorer’s touch and a few strokes of luck around the crease at the moment. He’ll get a continued stay beside Bozak and Parenteau after tonight’s effort.
– Morgan Relly played a team-leading 25:26 and was out there a lot when Babcock cut Marincin (who played just eight minutes total) and Polak out of the rotation in the third as the Leafs tried to chase the lead. Rielly put five shots on goal tonight and the Leafs had 44 shot attempts for with Rielly on the ice… Columbus mustered just 50 total all game. He helped create the Boyes goal with a hard low point shot, and should’ve done the same on the play leading to Dion’s penalty at the end of the game with the score 2-1, as he fired high with traffic in front. Rielly was good overall, though, with a couple of excellent rushes (followed by a ridiculous recovery the other way on one such occasion).
– Josh Leivo looked reasonably comfortable in limited action (10:58, 2:37 on the powerplay). His best moment was a no-look set up for Brad Boyes in the slot with his back to goal below the hashmark – a situation he’s quite effective in – but Boyes looked almost surprised to see the puck arrive. Also put a nice tip on goal in the first. Not much to go on, but he didn’t look out of place in his first NHL game since last January.
– Joffrey Lupul came to life finally for a lively couple of consecutive shifts in the second period, but he took a shot to the foot a bit later in the period and went quiet afterward. Just 12 minutes and change again tonight, and he didn’t appear to get a shift in the final seven or so minutes — pretty damning for what should be the Leafs’ best goal-scoring option with JVR out. If the scoring woes continue, ol’ faithful – Lupul and Kadri – may be worth trying out. Babcock doesn’t look likely to elevate Lupul in the lineup unless he starts to show something more, however.
– Here was the intermission segment wherein Lou Lamoriello speaks on Dion Phaneuf’s leadership qualities and showers Nazem Kadri with praise.
Even Strength Shot Attempts
Even Strength Scoring Chances
Leafs Player Stats — Columbus 3 vs. Toronto 1
| PLAYER | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | S | HITS | BKS | FO% | PP TOI | SH TOI | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. Hunwick | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | 0:00 | 0:36 | 21:11 |
| D. Phaneuf | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | - | 3:34 | 0:25 | 23:30 |
| P. Parenteau | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | - | 2:39 | 0:27 | 19:59 |
| J. Lupul | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | 1:21 | 0:00 | 12:11 |
| S. Matthias | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 0:00 | 0:00 | 16:20 |
| P. Holland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 38% | 3:03 | 0:36 | 17:32 |
| D. Winnik | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | 0:02 | 0:57 | 11:04 |
| B. Boyes | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 3:43 | 0:27 | 11:47 |
| J. Leivo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | 2:37 | 0:00 | 10:58 |
| M. Grabner | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | 0:00 | 1:03 | 14:01 |
| T. Bozak | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 62% | 2:57 | 0:27 | 20:48 |
| N. Kadri | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 60% | 3:21 | 0:25 | 19:38 |
| M. Rielly | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | - | 0:56 | 1:52 | 25:26:00 |
| R. Polak | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | - | 0:00 | 1:46 | 14:34 |
| L. Komarov | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 50% | 3:21 | 1:33 | 21:21 |
| J. Gardiner | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 1 | - | 2:26 | 0:27 | 22:39 |
| M. Marincin | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0:00 | 1:00 | 8:04 |
| B. Froese | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 75% | 0:00 | 1:03 | 7:40 |
Mike Babcock Post Game
