Sluggish Leafs fall to Habs

Jan. 21: Leafs 1 vs. Habs 3

(Jonas Gustavsson takes the loss in goal)
Leafs scorers: Lombardi (4)
Habs scorers: Bourque (14), Diaz (3), Eller (10)
Links: Box Score | Discussion boards

Forward lines:Lupul-Kadri-Connolly, Lombardi-Bozak-Kessel, Kulemin-Grabovski-MacArthur, Crabb-Steckel-Brown
Defence pairings: Phaneuf-Schenn, Gardiner-Franson, Gunnarsson-Komisarek
Goaltenders: Gustavsson (Loss 58:48 minutes played, 20 saves, 3 GA), Reimer (0:00)

Recap
At the Saturday morning skate, the Leafs players vowed not to take their opponents too lightly.

To a man Joffrey Lupul, Cody Franson, and anyone who played in Tuesday’s loss to Ottawa swore that he wouldn’t make “the same mistake” in underestimating a team that played the previous night.

So what happened? How did the rested Leafs falter 3-1 against a Montreal Canadiens team that played in Pittsburgh just 24 hours earlier? “We let those guys hang around,” said Matthew Lombardi, who scored Toronto’s only goal. “I think we came out the way we wanted to, and then got away from it a little bit.”

Lombardi received a backhand stretch pass from Tyler Bozak and beat Habs goalie Carey Price just 29 seconds after Montreal opened the scoring late in the first period.

The game was tied 1-1 heading into the third period when a third period delay stopped the game for about ten minutes. At the Leafs end of the rink, one of the pegs that secured the net had to be repaired, while the glass needed to be fixed in behind the Canadiens’ goal. Shortly after play resumed, Habs defenceman Rapahel Diaz scored the eventual game-winner on a point shot that beat Jonas Gustavsson on the far side.

“We lost the battle along the boards and the defenceman screened the goalie, who didn’t have a chance on the shot,” said Leafs coach Ron Wilson.

A mild controversy ensued just past the midway point of the final frame when Montreal forward Travis Moen bumped Jake Gardiner into Gustavsson, appearing to distract the netminder long enough for Lars Eller to give the Habs insurance by potting a short-side goal. “The Monster” fumed in protest to no avail.

“That was irrelevant,” said Wilson on the non-call. “We stopped playing for a second, and they took advantage of it.”

Gustavsson was dismissive about the play. “I was obviously disturbed, but there’s no need to talk about it. I haven’t seen the replay,” he said.

Captain Dion Phaneuf reiterated the importance of not being complacent against a team that played the previous night. “I don’t think back-to-back games have any bearing on the team that’s playing on the second half. I don’t buy into that. We’re professional athletes. There’s travel there, but I don’t think it’s an advantage to be sitting here waiting for them.

All day it seemed like the Leafs knew what they had to do.

Executing their duties on this night was a different challenge altogether.