The visiting Arizona Coyotes will meet the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night, and they will be looking for retribution.
They’re hoping for a better outcome this time, after being severely defeated in the second game of a back-to-back against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Following a 6-3 road win over Arizona, Toronto defeated Vegas 7-3 to conclude a 4-0-0 trip before losing 6-2 at home to the Golden Knights on Tuesday.
The loss snapped Toronto’s seven-game winning streak.
The Arizona Coyotes are 0-1-1 on their five-game road trip after losing 4-2 to the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night.
On their return from their break, the Maple Leafs got off to a fantastic start against the Golden Knights, but they couldn’t keep it going due to defensive lapses.
“Loved our start,” said Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe, who was called for a game misconduct with two minutes left in the contest. “In fact, I believed it was our greatest start this season. I thought it was a better start than we’d had on the road.
“We were really going, guys were flying, puck was moving well, our pace was outstanding, we had great scoring chances.”
Tyler Bertuzzi scored his fourth goal in two games for Toronto on Tuesday, while Ryan Reaves also scored.
Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner’s 10-game point streak (three goals, 18 assists) came to an end, as did Toronto centre Auston Matthews’ six-game stretch (10 goals, four assists).
Matthews, the league’s leading scorer with 52 goals, has gone scoreless in two games.
Prior to Tuesday, Toronto goaltender Ilya Samsonov had won six consecutive starts dating back to February 7.
Maple Leafs forward William Nylander contributed a secondary assist on Bertuzzi’s goal, extending his point run to eight games.
Morgan Rielly, a Toronto defenseman, said, “I thought they did a good job, obviously, and we just kind of got away from our game.” They were opportunistic and made advantage of their opportunities.
Keefe mentioned Toronto’s comfort level as a factor in the team’s Tuesday loss to Vegas.
“The puck didn’t fall for us and, because it was going so well, I thought we started to overdo it,” he told reporters. “I believed we grew too complacent during the game. You can’t get comfortable against this club; they’re simply too good defensively.
Keefe declined to explain on his dismissal, but he was clearly irritated by a tripping penalty issued to Marner late in the third, with the score 4-2.
“Not going there, not going there,” that’s what he said.
The Coyotes recorded 38 shots on goal to Montreal’s 21 and did not take a penalty.
They are experiencing an 0-11-2 drought.
“We had a lot of possession in their zone, quality shots, and their goalie (Sam Montembeault) stood tall,” Coyotes head coach André Tourigny stated.
“We can always find a few items. We could have had a little more traffic ahead of him. We failed to reload correctly on two of their goals. “There is never a perfect game.”
Former Maple Leafs players Alex Kerfoot and Nick Bjugstad scored, and Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram made 17 saves.
“We played really well,” Tourigny added. “The boys were quite emotional and driven. They played with a lot of passion. There was plenty of life on the bench.”
