Embarrassing Night for the Maple Leafs as Chris Tanev Injury Adds to the Misery
Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs would like to quickly forget about Saturday night, as an embarrassing loss to New Jersey also gave way to a serious Chris Tanev injury.
There was only one goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night, which was to be a way more focused and cohesive unit after a rough 4-3 OT loss against Seattle that led to Anthony Stolarz showing his frustrations, but things seemed to be smoothed over.
When the team took the ice on Tuesday it was great, the city was buzzing after a Blue Jays World Series berth, and the fans were hoping that momentum would carry over to the Leafs.
Craig Berube Faces Tough Decisions on the Blue Line
What happened though was the team's worst loss of the year, and it't not just because of the score either.
Losing 5-2 to the Devils, Toronto was outmatched and outgunned all night. They were two steps behind New Jersey, who used the lightning quick speed of the Hughes brothers, and a relentless attack that flustered the Maple Leafs.
But the worst part of it was they lost Chris Tanev to an injury after he awkwardly bumped heads with Devils forward Dawson Mercer, and left the game after being helped off the ice:
While we don't know the extent of the injury, it's clear that there's concern about a potential concussion, and Tanev is going to be evaluated in the next 24 hours where we'll have a better clue as to what's happened.
But for now, it's a big question as to who comes in. Philippe Myers is their 7th defender and he has history with Morgan Rielly to some success.
Perhaps it would be a Rielly/Myers pairing with Brandon Carlo dropping to the second pair with McCabe, and he could certainly use a bit of a reset too; things seem to be getting tough for him.
They could also make a move if Tanev's injury is bad enough, and either make a trade for an Erik Gustafsson, or even bring in one of their AHL depth guys like Dakota Mermis or give William Villeneuve a chance.
Maple Leafs Look Lost in Ugly Performance Against the Devils
That injury unraveled the team, as they gave up three goals in 1:53 and the Devils completely ran away with it.
One bright spot of the game was that John Tavares managed to secure two points (including goal #498) and Matias Maccelli finally got his first goal after a gorgeous feed from William Nylander:
Toronto was outshot 35-25 and only had eight shots in the final frame, including only having three over halfway through the third.
They gave the puck away a ton, spent way too much time in their own zone as per usual, and their defensive lapses cost them again:
Jack Hughes ended up potting a hat-trick as the Devils move to 5-1-0 and have won every game on the road thus far this year.
For Toronto (3-3-1) they will need to seriously head back to the drawing board, and Tanev's return timeline is going to make things even harder than they have been.
It will hopefully be a much different story on Friday against the Buffalo Sabres, but without Tanev, there are several unanswered questions that only the results will answer.
TRENDING NOW
