Earlier tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 3-2 in a shootout against the Los Angeles Kings, with Dustin Brown scoring the only goal after overtime. The Leafs, in picking up a consolation point, avoided losing three straight regulation games, but are now only one point ahead of The Winnipeg Jets for the final playoff spot.
James Reimer had an impressive outing, stopping 40 of 42 shots, and 15 out of 16 shots in the second period, when the Leafs were largely dominated.
It's no great surprise that L.A. managed to strike once out of five times on the power play, though at the same time, with the Leafs' penalty kill being as abysmal as it is (73.2%) killing 4 out of 5 penalties is actually an improvement.
Scoring for the Leafs were John-Michael Liles and Matt Frattin, in the first and third periods, respectively. Liles had a number of good scoring chances throughout the game, and it's great to see Frattin finally starting to cash in on a chance or two. Notching an assist on Frattin's goal was the poor Nikolai Kulemin, who still only has 12 points on the season.
The other news item that emerged tonight that is bound to garner some attention is that Colby Armstrong kept the fact that he has been diagnosed with a concussion a secret from his coaches. From The Globe and Mail reporter Dave Shoalts via Twitter:
It's been another tough season in terms of injuries for our friend Colby, and I can imagine his injury track record is going to seriously affect his capacity to land another decent NHL contract when this one expires. This, of course, means that the Leafs will call up another player, as Jonas Siegel also confirmed:
I can't help but wonder if a winger going down means that Nazem Kadri gets another chance to shine with the big club, though Joe Colborne will likely garner at least some consideration.
