The Toronto Maple Leafs opened their four-game trip with a pair of dates in Alberta, both which ended in lopsided final scores.
But the results weren’t what one might have imagined.
The Maple Leafs opened with a 7-2 victory Saturday at Pacific Division-leading Edmonton, followed by a 5-2 defeat Monday at bottom-feeder Calgary that snapped Toronto’s four-game winning streak.
The Maple Leafs will continue their Western swing Wednesday at the Seattle Kraken before wrapping it up Saturday in Vancouver.
“I think (the Flames) just got to their game really quick,” said Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews, who recorded his 800th career point with an assist to become the fastest in franchise history to reach that mark (703 games), surpassing Darryl Sittler’s mark (742).
“They played simple. I thought we were a little bit loose with the puck halfway through the first period and just got away from what’s making us successful over the last week or so, and they definitely took advantage of it.”
William Nylander and Easton Cowan tallied for Toronto and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves.
Maple Leafs forward Kirill Marchenko left with a lower-body injury in the second period and didn’t return. Coach Jim Hiller said he didn’t have a “full update” on Marchenko after the game.
“He couldn’t come back and finish the game, so that’s never a good sign,” Hiller said.
The first-year Toronto coach lamented turnovers that led to a 3-0 deficit less than a minute into the second period. The Maple Leafs pulled within a goal in the third before allowing a pair of empty-netters.
“Turned the puck over way too much,” Hiller said. “I thought, over the last four games, we’d taken that out of our game. It was there in spades (Monday) and you can’t win in the league if you do that, and we saw that.”
For the Kraken, this is the finale of a four-game homestand on which they’re 2-1-0. The loss came Saturday, when they allowed three unanswered second-period goals in a 5-1 defeat to Minnesota.
“I think the first period wasn’t terrible,” Seattle defenseman Vince Dunn said. “And then the second period, it just kind of collapses.”
The Kraken were outshot 16-1 in that period.
“They were able to transition the puck on us,” Dunn said. “I just don’t think we were in the offensive zone enough, so we didn’t get enough shots.”
The Kraken were without forward Jared McCann, the franchise’s career scoring leader, who is expected to miss the next 10 weeks with a lower-body injury suffered in last Thursday’s 5-3 victory against Utah. McCann was placed on injured reserve Sunday.
Kaapo Kakko, who has a team-leading 10 points (two goals, eight assists), was moved up from the third line to the first to replace McCann alongside Matty Beniers and Jordan Eberle.
Kakko said part of the problem against the Wild was Seattle wasn’t smart enough.
“There’s times you can make plays, and then there’s times you just have to put (the puck) down low,” Kakko said.
–Field Level Media
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