Toronto Maple Leafs’ early-season struggles magnified in loss to Devils | Too early to worry?

Toronto Maple Leafs’ early-season struggles magnified in loss to Devils | Too early to worry?

Another disappointing effort as the Leafs lose to the Devils. Maybe they’re in bigger trouble than we thought. Let’s get into it in today’s edition of the Locked On Leafs podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. It’s your team every day. You’re Locked on Maple Leafs, your daily podcast on the Toronto Maple Leafs, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome in to the Locked On Leafs podcast, a daily Maple Leaf Center podcast hosted by myself, Mike Dphano, and my co-host Dave Morsudi. Today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Download the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Hopefully, you did not place your first $5 bet on the Maple Leafs tonight because you would not have won. You would not have got your $300 bonus. But if you bet on the Devils and faded the Maple Leafs, you would have got that bonus cuz boy oh boy, Dave, uh the Leafs, another disappointing loss here. They lose 52 to the New Jersey Devils and uh the Leafs now a sub 500 team seven games into the year. What’ you make of tonight’s performance? Yeah, very lackluster. thought they didn’t have a lot of energy. Uh kind of what we’ve been we’ve been seeing since, you know, start of the year. They haven’t looked the part. They haven’t. And uh you know what? It’s it it’s really disappointing this game because I I actually for whatever reason why I believed Austin Matthews tonight when he said after the I he said yesterday after practice came out and said um that they need to be better and they will be better. That was in response to the Anthony Stolar’s comments after the Seattle game. I actually believed them. Thought that they were going to be better. They were going to be harder to play against and that could not have been further from the truth realistically. like they were just as uh lackluster and just as you know less as least physical, you know, as as they’ve been. Sure, you get to fight late, whatever. But again, you you got guys kind of right in the kitchen of the goalender, making life difficult on Stallars. There wasn’t a whole lot of Maple Leafs going to the net. They weren’t shooting the puck on goal nearly as often as they should have been to make life a little difficult on the opposition. Right. We talked before the game about one of the keys is you got to be physical. You got to put bodies on these guys because you got to slow them down in the neutral zone because that’s a quick team. It’s a fast team and if you end up on your heels, it’s not going to go well. That’s exactly how it ended up going tonight. Uh the Maple Leafs were kind of they were outplayed. You know, they were outplayed plain and simple and you know, the Devils worked a little harder. They they showed off their their skill and speed and uh ultimately the Leaf did not give their A effort tonight. Was not an A game, probably not a B game. Probably give it a C for the Maple Leafs uh in this one. Um which is disappointing coming off of a performance where we were told by the captain, we’ll be better. They weren’t. They weren’t any better tonight. Um you know, were they worse? Not necessarily. But you look at the second period there, like you give up three goals in was it like four minutes to start the second period. It’s like what the hell’s going on here? You got a one- nothing lead coming out of the first and they completely squander everything that you did with a with a with a piss poor effort to start the second period. And like let’s be honest, they didn’t look great to start the first. Like they, you know, Anthony Sto made some big saves. They they were outshot. They looked slow. But what did they do? They kept it simple. Riley makes a great play to keep the puck in. Yeah. Gets the puck to Mitchell. Machelli throws it in front and Dvarus makes a great play in front of that because he’s in the scoring position. Mhm. And like it’s just like we’re not like it’s not like we’re asking the Leafs to do something spectacular doodle moves. Show off. Just play simple. Keep the puck in the neck. fight for loose pucks, keep keep some sustained pressure because the reason why you’re screw you’re getting outshot and you’re getting outsc scored right now is because you’re not spending enough time in the offensive zone. Like some people say, “Ah, this team’s defensively is not very good.” Well, no. It’s because that they’re they’re constantly getting the offense being transitioned into into defense. They’re caught out of position. And how many times did that happen tonight where they they’re unable to keep the puck in the zone. rush chance the other way like the Jack Hughes one. Nobody nobody was looking to see where Jack Hughes was on the ice. Like that’s and and what do and and it was off of a kind of a lazy play giving it up in the offensive. Okay, I’m going to go make a change. Oh. Oh, no one’s going to go and get Jack Hughes. Okay, that’s fine. Yeah, I’m sure Anthony stole ours. I said like a couple of the goals I wish he had been able to save. The Jack Hughes ones was one. I thought the Brandon Dylan one he should have. Yeah, the Dylan one. The Dylan one he did come out and say like I I need that goal back. Like that’s a bad one. That’s on me. I take accountability. That one I wish I had back. So he did take a little bit of accountability for it. But uh I mean he there was nine oddman rush chances tonight for the New Jersey Devil. Nine of them. Like you can’t give up nine oddman rushes and expect your goalender to to go nine for nine. like when you got a good skilled team who can finish like the New Jersey Devils, you know, like they’re they’re going to have success and they did. They had a lot of success tonight. Uh specifically off the rush, which is exactly what we said was going to be a problem. And yeah, I’m just watching back that goal right now. That was the 4-2 goal with with Hughes, you know, broken play and he gets the puck screaming in off the wing and just, you know, one-time fires it short side. you know, a nice wellplayed shot, I guess, but like Stallers probably could have had that one, too, if we’re being completely honest with uh with with ourselves. So, there’s a couple goals there that uh that that Stoley probably wants back. But to their point, I mean, how do you just give a you know, Jack Hughes that much time and space? You shouldn’t be able to do that. It’s Jack Hughes. You got to know where that guy is on the ice. Um so, just again another game where it’s defensive laps, you know, lack of structure. um turnovers whether it’s in the defensive end or you know behind their net or or they turn the puck over in the offensive zone and you know quick transition from New Jersey that’s what cost him tonight you know multiple times and it’s just a lot of the same stuff that’s been happening game after game and look there’s still time to to put it together and figure it out like we’re only seven games into the season but hey you know seven becomes 10 becomes 20 pretty quick all of a sudden you’re at you know it’s Christmas and you’re still a 500 team and the same mistakes are plaguing you at that point, you know, you will start to question, okay, what is this team at that point? And uh I’m already starting to kind of question it. Like maybe I don’t know, Dave, like I think maybe the Leafs just aren’t that good. Like is it too early to have that conversation? Is it too early? I think it’s a little early to definitely say they’re not a good team, but I think they’re they’re in the process right now where if they don’t pick it up, the Atlantic division does not allow teams too much of a leeway to go from a bad start to stay within contention. Like I know Florida’s taking a step back right now, but they have a better excuse right now than the Leafs. Yeah, too. By the way, Tampa’s got what, one win so far. Tampa, I think they’re dead last in the basement of the Atlantic Division. I was taking a look at the standings earlier today. They’re not doing anything either, which is very surprising to me. Um, but either way, like Detroit’s winning games, Montreal’s winning games, Ottawa, you know, like they’re getting points. Like they got another point. Still four to four despite everything. like Boston’s not like like at this state at this time it like the Leafs are fourth. Um that’s why like I’m not totally like throw it out like like putting the them in like uh I don’t know panic mode like you know panic button from Staples. I but I do think that there’s there are very concerning things. That was an easy button. Is it easy button? I used to get I used to see also the panic button. That was easy. That was an easy button. But yeah, I think Leafs need that right now. They need to find the easy button. Wouldn’t that be nice where they just like score a goal and that was easy, you know, make a save, make a block shot, you know, score a goal on a power play would be would be fantastic. Um, yeah, look, when you look at Toronto right now, it’s it is like it’s not it’s it’s too early to panic. I’m not in panic mode. I don’t want to make it seem like like that’s that’s the case, but when I say maybe they’re not that good, I mean maybe they’re more closer to a middle of the pack team than they are like a divisional favorite or Stanley Cup contender. Like that that’s what I mean. So I didn’t mean that they’re terribly going to be in the lottery. So if that’s what you got from that, whoever’s listening, that’s not what I meant. Maybe they’re just a middle of the pack team. And a middle of the pack team makes the playoffs, right? 50% of the teams make the playoffs. So if you’re literally smack dab in the middle, you’re going to make the playoffs. So, that doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be a playoff team, but maybe they’re not not that good enough where they’re they’re going to be competing for a Stanley Cup. You know, maybe they’re not going to have uh the quite the run that the Blue Jays are having right now. So, may maybe maybe we don’t have quite a spectacular spring as we are having this fall. Um, but there’s still tons of time to obviously get things on the rails and uh, but a game like tonight where you you expected them to actually bounce back uh, especially after, you know, Stallars comes out, talks about the things that they need to do, the coach comes out and talks about, you know, needing to play harder, need to play smarter, more simple, less turnovers, um, less penalties, and they don’t like ultimately they just continue to play the same way. It’s It’s a little disappointing. Uh hopefully at some point this week they can turn it around cuz the season can get away from you. That’s that’s all I’m saying. If if you’re still doing this by Christmas, that’s when you really start to to to get concerned. But there’s a little bit of an eyebrow raise about the way this team looked and played early this season. Um hopefully moving forward they can kind of pick it up. All right, let’s take a quick break. We’ll come back. We’ll dive deeper into tonight’s game. Got the good, the bad, the ugly from the loss against the Devils. Couple nice things that I do want to shout out though from uh from this game. It wasn’t all doom and gloom. Couple nice things, but there is an injury to Chris Tanv. We’ll update you on that also next here in the Lockdown Lease Podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team every day. Today’s edition of the Lockdown Lease Podcast is brought to you by Monarch. Let’s be honest, most of us can’t even name all our financial accounts, let alone what they’re worth. Between 401ks, savings, investments, it’s easy to lose track, and that can mean leaving money on the table. That’s why I started using Monarch, an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. And that’s the best part. It helps you keep yourself organized. You can do it all on your smartphone. You don’t have to go and throw everything into a spreadsheet. And if you’re looking to review uh your finances with your partner, you can look at your share goals and make better financial decisions together. Monarch’s visual dashboard and smart tools make it so easy to understand where your money is going and how it can make your money work harder for you. So don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code lockdown NHL at monarch.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarch.com code lockdownhl for half off your first year. Welcome back into the lockdown lease podcast. Mike Dano Dave Morsudi with you as we are each and every weekday Monday through Friday with brand new episodes of the Lockdown Lease podcast free and available wherever you get your podcast including up on YouTube for your daily dose of Maple Leafs content. The Lease with a 52 loss to the New Jersey Devils. Uh they are now three and four three or yeah 33 and one on the year I guess with the OT loss. So 33 and one on the year, a 500 hockey club uh through through seven games, which not great. And now they might be without Chris Tanf, arguably their best uh defensive defenseman, an absolute warrior on the blue line. Uh he was injured in the second period, early in the second period tonight, which could be, you know, part of the problem for why they kind of fell apart, giving up three more goals after he left the game, plus an empty netter. Um he took a weird kind of shot to the head. some way almost looked like a kind of a head-to-head helmetto helmet hit um with a Devil’s player right in front of the right in front of the goal crease and went down and and it just looked really awkward. Um I don’t know the latest is that it’s possible he could miss time. Coach Burbe was asked postgame um he was asked if he’s going to miss time and Burbet basically said it’s possible. So they will re-evaluate him tomorrow. But I tell you, man, like we’re already kind of uneasy about the way that things have gone for the Maple Leafs, specifically when it comes to defending and protecting the net and all that. You lose Chris Tanv and all of a sudden it gets even more dicey for the Maple Leaf, doesn’t it, Dave? No. Like the last thing you need is having your best defenseman lo, you know, miss now miss a bunch of time and not really like like who you kind of look at what’s been going wrong with this team. When Chris Tan left the game, Jake McCabe was kind of like in no man’s land, dude. Who walked Jake McCabe? I’m trying to Who was Was it uh was it Palat that absolutely walked Jake McCabe? Yeah, I think so. Let me let me let me let me find that out. I I thought I wrote it down, but he got absolutely walked like crisscrossed, ankles broken uh leading to uh leading to the that that goal there from the Devils. And I’m just like, how can you let that happen? Um but yeah, Chris Tanv going down, not good. Uh and and if he’s going to miss extended time, that’s really not good for Toronto cuz they don’t have anyone who can replace him, whether it’s internally um or or or you know, down to the miners. Obviously, there’s no one really who plays, you know, the Chris Tanv game. The guy is so calm, you know, with the puck, without the puck, always makes the right decision, you know, makes a good first pass to get it out of the zone. You know, puts out little fires all around the ice. You know, this year, you know, you can make the argument it’s it’s been a little bit of a slower start, but he still is, in my opinion, the best defenseman that the Maple Leafs have. Uh, and if he’s going to miss some time, that’s that’s going to be tough for the Bud. So, that’s that’s a negative. another negative that came from this game. But let’s get to the good, the bad, the ugly here, Dave. Um, let’s let’s talk a little positive. We’re we’re 15 minutes into the podcast and it’s been all negative. What’ you like from from tonight’s game? Anything kind of stick out to you? I mean, Willie Knander looked really good offensively. The second I thought the second line as a whole actually looked solid, which you need to see, you hope to see clearly. Um, you know, you want to see some offense start to come through for this top six and you know, you get Dvarus with a goal. You see Machelli scores his first as a Maple Leaf. The pass, the play from Willie to set that up, too. Unbelievable. So, that that line, you know, if they can get cooking, that’s that’s that’s a good positive step moving forward to uh to getting this team into a better spot. Yeah, he play like I I thought that I thought that line when you’re talking about creating that offense and having that sustained zone time they’re they they’re doing it and like Neander speed is a big part of a Machelli he’s not giving up on plays like the problem is obviously like when they have to play defense that’s where it gets a little concerning. So what do they have what do they realize they need to do? All right, we need to make sure we’re playing more offensively. We need to be carrying the puck. We need to be r like they’re one they’re probably the only line right now that I can trust to go and get a goal off the rush. Get a chance off the rush. Yeah. So, I mean, Neander’s always been really dangerous off the rush. I think, you know, I I look at him and think of him as as a rush player as well, so that makes sense. Um, but they’re they’re, you know, contributing. You know, they they actually did it. Neanderelli twoon-one. And you know, they they they had a nice little rush chance, nice rush goal. I think they had what they have 72% expected goals and that trio was was out on the ice which was um pretty well led your uh you know your your four lines or at least the the starters that were out there. So positive positive things from that top from that second line. If you could get the top line chugging, you know, now all of a sudden I think you’re going in the right direction though, right? I think so. Like I think you’re they’re they’re looking so hard to find lines that work. Second line, don’t need to touch it. It’s good. Yeah. Like that one. You can Craig Ruby doesn’t need to touch that line. Yeah. Well, that’s what four goals now in four games for Tavvaris. Y like, you know, he’s starting to score. Willie is the quietest 13 points to start a season I think I’ve ever seen. Like 13 points in seven games. It’s almost two points a game. and he’s really only played like maybe what four good periods all season yet somehow, you know, leads the team and and is near the top of the league with 13 points. Like that’s how good this guy is, right? Like that’s how skilled he is that he can just lock into points. Like yeah, I didn’t play that well, but another two-point night though for Willie. Like it’s that just goes to show how good this kid can actually be, right? Yeah. Like, you know, you’re hearing a lot of when you’re hearing the um criticisms of this team and Neander’s been getting his fair share. Look, defensively, we know he’s not he’s not going to go out there and win you a Selki. What he needs to do is what he did tonight, be a catalyst offensively. And maybe you find a way to get it elsewhere like that. Other lines will eventually start to follow through. But yeah, if we’re looking for a positive, second line right now is is leading the charge offensively as they should. So that was as they should be. So that was the good was the bad. Dave, what were some bad you saw tonight? There was quite a bit of it. Quite a bit of it. I I’ll also go with the the first line. It wasn’t good. That the doi n Matthews that trio it it was a rough one for them tonight. They were outscored, I think, one- nothing and outshot six-2 at one point in the game. Like, they’re they’re not it’s not working right now. But at the same time, what I don’t want to see happen is flip-flopping. Like, give this is a chance where you got to give this top line a few games to figure it out. And I know it sounds it to say that it doesn’t sound good, but the reason why that second line is work is jelling right now is because they’ve had time to to get to get it going. Top line like they they need a headshake. It starts with Matthews. Like he comes on, he says, “We need to be better. We will be better.” 100%. 100%. But my my question is like Matthews and Nye should be good enough on their own that the third guy shouldn’t be the one that makes it all tick. You know what I mean? Like and and that’s where it’s pretty much been like all season. It’s like they’ve been kind of okay. You know, individually there’s been some good individual plays, but you know, on a 60-minute basis, you know, game in game out, you know, that top line hasn’t really gelled and showed, you know, a whole lot of sustainable pressure. There was that one game with Eastn Kalan where they looked pretty good. But outside of that, it’s like, yeah, Machelli had a couple games, they went away from it. You know, K had a couple games, they went away from it, and now it’s Doy’s turn. And uh didn’t go well tonight, you know. So, we’ll see if going forward, do they give him another shot? Is it time for Eston Cowan to get back into the game after sitting up in the press box? Maybe do they try and give a guy like Dakota Joshua or Nick W Nick Nick Robertson maybe an opportunity up on the top line? Um they need speed. They need speed on that top line. They need Yeah, maybe. Maybe. Well, Nick Roberts to me maybe. You know what? At this rate, give them a shot, right? Try it. Try it. If it doesn’t work, okay, let’s put someone else there. Well, like it’s it’s funny because in one way it’s like you want to give these guys time to work out the kinks, but at the same time it’s if it looks so ugly, I mean, you got to keep trying different things. Um, coach Buru spoke about this. I guess the reporters in the media session after the game reminded him that he said at the start of the season that it might be a long process of experimentation with incorporating new forwards. and he came out and said, “Well, it could be, but I’m getting tired of it to be honest with you.” So, yeah. You don’t That mean anything to you? Like, does that mean that he’s willing to to give it give it more time or does that mean that he’s going to try and find some combination that works and maybe we’ll see a lot of a lot more lineup maneuvering moving forward? I This is where you get it gets very Yeah. very dangerous, right? You know, patience. Obviously, you want to see some patience with um with this group like with, you know, you want to see the coach show a little bit of patience, but at the same time, the team’s not giving him a lot of reasons to be patient. And so, yeah, like something I obviously the Scott Lawn injury, we talked about it, it changed things. I get it. But it didn’t change your top six. It shouldn’t have. It It shouldn’t have. It somewhat did, but it shouldn’t have. But, you know, it’s it’s interesting. When has this top line looked at looked its best with Eastan Cowan up there, right? Yeah. For two games, I guess. Yeah. Looked pretty good. And then they decide one game we’re gonna we’re just gonna get him off. Yeah. Like like to me it it looked worse with him off. So like now that kind of sends a message that Yeah. maybe the kid was the right move. Like like to me like I didn’t understand and it’s why I was upset with him coming out of the line because I felt like it wasn’t like he was egregiously bad in one game. Yeah. There were some moments where he wasn’t good. How show a little faith. Don’t let the kid think that if he makes a mistake, he’s coming right out of the lineup. Right. Right. Yeah. No, I totally agree. Um, I’ll be curious to see kind of what the lineup looks like uh tomorrow at practice and maybe there’ll be some some new changes. Maybe Ken will go back up on that line or maybe they split up Matthews and N. I mean, so often we we saw Matthews and and Marner get split up when things weren’t going very well. Maybe that pairing could get split up. Seven games in there hasn’t been a lot of five on five offense from that pairing, right? That duo. So perhaps we see something different where they drop N to the third to the second line and and and maybe you know it’s Machelli Doy and and Matthews on one line and N Tvaris and Knander you know maybe that’s something that they try uh for for a game or two and see if splitting those guys up can maybe do something. Uh okay uh let’s ugly. We didn’t get to the ugly, but they had 17 turnovers, 17 giveaways. You know what’s ugly? One play that described the whole BS that they played with tonight in terms of the turnovers when that McCabe decides I’m going to go for a hit, miss the guy, hit my own guy, knock him down, and it’s a 4-1. If like like people like Wyatt, how do they allow a four-on-one? It doesn’t help when two of your own teammates collide with each other. Yeah. Like Carlo knew what was happening. He’s like, I gotta get back because McCabe is going to make a move he should not make, which is when when you have a team with speed, I understand you try to you try to knock him off balance, but even if the jersey guy were to pass the puck, it would have been a three in one instead of a four on one in that situation. like not the lack of awareness. And again, it’s kind of speaks to this Leaf’s approach right now. Half in, half out. Are you going to go for the hit or are you going to go for the hit kind of half-heartedly, then take out your own guy and then it leads to a scoring chance against Yeah, there’s a couple of plays there tonight where Jake McCabe left you left you scratching your head. That’s for sure. So, he’s he’s you know, he he’s been awful. Honestly, he has not he has not played well uh to start the season. And that’s a big reason too why this team’s not in a good spot. When you’re shut down defenseman is uh you know is giving up chances like that and and not making the right plays, the smart plays and costing your team, you know, twoon-1s, threeon ones, fouron ones, stuff like tonight is is kind of what’s uh what’s been happening. All right, let’s take a quick break. Let’s come back. There’s some news about a potential change in Saturday’s schedule. We’ll tell you about that next here in the Lockdown Leafs podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team every day. Today’s show is brought to you by Rudiet. Let’s be real, making excuses doesn’t solve anything. We’ve all heard them before. It’s just stress. I’m tired. Or it happens to everyone sometimes. But when it comes to performance, sometimes your body just needs a little extra support. And that’s where Rugette comes in. Rugiet.com al offers fast acting doctor prescribed treatments for ED designed to help you stop making excuses and start making moves. 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I’ve built parlays. I’ve tried player props. And I’ve even followed the live lines during games. It makes watching hockey even more exciting when you got a little something something riding on the action. Whether you’re a casual fan, you love diving into the stats, Banduel makes the game day experience that much better. So, what are you waiting for? Visit banduel.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. Welcome back into the locked at least podcast. Mike Dphano, Dave Morsy with you as we are each and every weekday, Monday through Friday, with brand new episodes that are free and available across all podcast platforms and also up on YouTube. We ask that you would subscribe and check back each and every day to hear the latest on what’s going on with your beloved Toronto Maple Leafs. And uh there’s some reports coming out after the game here. I I saw at least one from David Alter, the hockey news. Um there might be another change to the schedule coming on Saturday. Dave, sounds like the the team in the league might be switching the Leafs and Sabers Saturday night matchup to 5 pm to try and avoid a clash with game two of the World Series. So again, for the second time this year already, the Leafs making moves to accommodate uh well the the their their the brothers down the road and the dome and and also I mean the the Toronto fans who are going to want to watch and also just Toronto infrastructure if you’re trying to get Lee’s fans and Jay’s fans downtown almost exact same time. Yeah. Yeah. We’re not used to this, right? Like Toronto’s not used to having the Jays, the Raptors, and the Leafs all playing at the exact same time. And TFC still cooking, too. Also on back-toback nights. Like the Leafs play Friday night, then they play Saturday night against the Savers. So why are they moving to Saturday and not the Friday? Uh because the Saturday is at home. It’s like like they like like Buffalo’s not going to do them any favors. the salary is at home. So, they gota Yeah, I think it’s twofold. One, people that are going to be in Toronto are going to be going to that game, so they care about, you know, somebody’s got tickets to that game. They don’t want to have to make a decision. Between Imagine you have tickets to both. I mean, I’m sure there’s quite a few season ticket holders like, “Yo, we got tickets to both. Can we do both?” Oh, yeah. 100%. like you you might miss. No, what you do is you watch the first couple periods of the Leaf game and then you get yourself over to the dome. You got to be there for 8:00 start. Yeah, but like So, so there apparently it’s going to start at 5:00 p. p.m., right? A 5:00 pm starts. So, you figure the game will probably go to what 7:30. It’s usually two and a half hour game. 7:45 max, you know, at the at the very latest. Um, unless it goes into overtime. But if I’m, you know, I’m I’m I’m a Jay’s fan or just a Toronto sports fan, I want to make sure that I’m in the building uh in Rogers Center by 7:30 at the latest. Like, I don’t want to miss things. So, I probably would make sure that I’m, you know, after the second period, I’m out of there. Like, I’m not even watching the third. I don’t care if it’s a 3-3 game, a 1-1. I don’t care how close it is, what’s going on in the Leafs. By the end of the second period, if I had tickets to the Jays game, you bet your ass I’m getting out of there and going to Toronto or going down to the dome to to be there for like the pregame festivities because that’s that’s far more important than the third period of you know what be the eighth ninth game of the season for the Maple Leafs against the Buffalo Sabres. Yeah, it’s And also Tuesday games like I didn’t realize the Tuesday game against uh Calgary 6:15. There’s no le like the Jays are on the road for that game. The Leaf game starts at 6:15. Interesting. Was that always a 6:15 game? I I didn’t see any announcement about a change for that game. So that’s just it’s a bit of a bizarre time. Okay, interesting. So that makes it what 5:15 local in Calgary. I’d be 515. Yeah. The two hours behind. That’s very interesting. But uh I appreciate it. You know, the the the I thousand% appreciate because accommodating us Toronto sports fans who for sure want to make sure that we’re locked in on the Blue Jays. You know, you watch the for for TV watching purposes. It’s perfect because again, Leafs be done by 7:30, 7:45 and then you click over, you go, you watch the Jays pregame. You get to watch everything and you know game first pitch is what 810 something like that 808 in that range. It’ be perfect for for you know from a watching perspective. Yeah. for those who who might have ticket. I I looked I I went online this morning. So tickets went on sale at 10 p.m. So they say 10 p.m. I was in the queue. There was 12,000 people ahead of me in the queue. By the time I got there, obviously all the tickets were gone and it was only resale tickets that were available. How much you think it would have cost you? Oh, I already know. get in the building just to get in the bu this standing room only seats. Two grand, wasn’t it? It was like I think like three grand. Yeah, like two two 3,0002 $3,000 for standing room only seats. You know what would have been the better play? I think I I looked I think it was I got 6,200 to go and get a hotel room. The hotel that watch they watch the game. I mean, honestly, that might be smart because you could split that with 10 other people and all of a sudden it’s only 620 bucks. That might be a smart play, actually, Dave. That’s some smart thinking. Maybe it’s a hotel room that you try and get there instead of uh instead of tickets inside the stadium. Yeah. Let me know if anyone’s ever done Have you ever done that? Have you ever been watched any of the games in the ocean? No, I’ve always wanted to see what it was like. Yeah, me too. Me, too. I think that’d be uh I think that’d be cool. But yeah, I’m glad the Leafs in the league are are doing this, man. I’m sure everyone’s quite thankful for it. Uh for sure. Speaking of the league and and moving shifting things around. You see, apparently they’re cancelling the Olympic sendoff event that they were going to do at the UBS uh event center. They decided, now we’re just going to scrap it and let these guys go uh go overseas and get ready. Let’s not bring everyone uh bring everyone here. Um, which I think is very smart because this would be an absolute BS event that no one would care about except the people who are there and I like I don’t think you’re going to it makes no sense to like negatively players players were not even close to one in that. No, absolutely not. I don’t think they were either. So, I’m glad that they decided to do that uh do that as well. So, hey, moving and shaking in the right direction. in the NHL actually doing doing things for the fans for once, which Gary is very much not done in the past. Gary’s gone to the beat of his drum uh for for a very long time. Good to see that uh the NHL is got a little wiggle room um for for stuff like this nowadays. Uh anything else that uh they want to get into quickly? Anything pop up leaguewide or Leafs wide that you saw here postgame? anything trickling out that you want to talk about? No, not really. Not really seeing anything. Um, we’ll just I I guess by end of the week, we’ll hopefully be able to uh actually here uh No, actually we talked about that, right? So, I think um was it this was by any chance? Are you referring to this uh the top line thing? No, no, that not that. It was the goalending interference. I don’t know if we talked about that one. Oh, we didn’t. But I mean, that was a dumb challenge. I don’t know why it didn’t look Yeah, at this rate, the NHL’s got to get to the point. It’s got to be like your goalie got knocked over. Not guy was in the blue plane and your goalie couldn’t move put his glove on one side. Like, it just it was I mean, if a guy’s in the blue paint and you’re a goalender, just go at the guy like go at him and make sure that he makes contact with you, right? Just because he’s in the paint, I don’t think is is enough. like that’s just not going to be enough. But if you go at him and show like you’re trying to fight for that ice, which you’re entitled to that whole blue paint, that’s the only way that I think you’re going to get that call. Um so that that’s you know, if I was a goalie and and someone was in the blue paint and a shot was coming at me, I just it’s not like a flop, but it’s almost like that where you’re going into it. You’re leaning into the pitch, right? You’re leaning into the player and uh hopefully the contact is is enough at that point to get the call. But yeah, I I didn’t think for a second that that thing was was coming off the board either. All right, that’ll do it for us here today on the podcast. Like to thank you all for listening and supporting the show. You can subscribe to the Locked On Leafs podcast on all platforms and receive daily leafs content. Follow myself on Twitter, Mickey_uck, follow Dave at the_ud, and follow the show as well. Locked on Leafs. We’ll be back with another episode for you guys tomorrow. But until then, keep it locked right here on Lockdown Leafs.

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ struggles deepen with a brutal loss to the New Jersey Devils, but is it time to be deeply concerned with the team? Mike DiStefano and Dave Morassutti break down the Leafs’ disappointing performance, highlighting defensive lapses and offensive inconsistencies. Mike and Dave look at Chris Tanev’s injury and the impact it’ll have if he is out long-term. They look at William Nylander and the second line continuing to bring it offensively and debate potential line changes to spark the team’s offence. They also talk about the Leafs’ concerning start in the competitive Atlantic Division, Auston Matthews’ struggles, and a potential change to the schedule.

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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Leafs lose to Devils, disappointing effort
5:04 Defensive lapses and turnovers plague Leafs
12:19 Chris Tanev injured, could miss time
15:54 Some positives
19:27 First line struggles continue to be an issue
28:34 Potential schedule change for Saturday’s game
34:28 NHL cancels Olympic send-off event

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