Missed marking, bad pinching, flubbed passes, and soft giveaways: this game had it all.
- A combination of Colton Orr, Jake Gardiner, and Cody Franson dropped a man on the back door
- A stickless and ornamental Mark Fraser took the body to no effect,
- A bad pinch by slow-as-molasses Mark Fraser put Rielly on a 2-on-1,
- A collapsing Smithson left a point man open on the PP,
- A blown tire by JVR tuned over the puck to put Gunnar on the wrong side of a 2-on-1
- A penalty following a clean Phaneuf hit put the Leafs on a 3-on-5, which led to the sixth and, mercifully, final goal against the Leafs. /
Here's your game in six. Not suitable for people who are pregnant, nursing, on blood pressure medication, or used to leaning on poor coping mechanisms:
People were giving Reimer the Bronx cheer after a while, and those people should be embarrassed. If MLSE spent their analytics budget on finding those people in the crowd and blacklisting them from ACC games, it'd be money well spent. The Leafs absolutely hung the goaltending out to dry - every single goal involved an open man, save the second, which involved three Blue Jackets in the crease. It's hard to review this game too earnestly - as it was unwatchable before the second intermission - but the Leafs never had the puck, and when they did, they put their best effort into giving it away in an appallingly dangerous manor.
Next up, the Penguins kick off a set of 3 road games in 4 days for the Leafs. Here's hoping they can at least take Buffalo.
