SEASON ENDS ON A LOSING NOTE
Habs drub Leafs as playoffs near,
While the Maple Leafs wait one more day to find out who they’ll play in the post-season, they’ve learned one thing for sure:
They’ll have to offer a better effort than the “brain-dead” one — to quote Randy Carlyle — they posted in an uninspiring 4-1 loss to Montreal on Saturday night if they expect to make any noise in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“I’m scratching my head,” said the Leaf coach. “It’s like we were brain-dead.”
Will the Leafs face the Boston Bruins, a recent-years nemesis the Leafs last played in the playoffs in 1974? Or the Montreal Canadiens, an historic rival they have not faced in the post-season since 1979.
It won’t be known until the conclusion of the NHL’s final regular-season game — Ottawa at Boston on Sunday night, a game delayed to this date due to the bombings at the Boston Marathon.
Boston needs two points to secure the Northeast Division crown, which would pit fourth-seed Montreal against fifthseed Toronto in a series that would start on Tuesday. An Ottawa victory would set up a Boston-Toronto tilt that would start as late as Thursday.
Boston has played six games in nine nights due to bombing-related delays, and it’s believed the league is inclined to give the Bruins a break before the playoffs.
All that’s really known is that the Canadiens will play Game 1 against whatever opponent on Tuesday night. (The Bell Centre is booked for a concert Wednesday night.)
A league conference call Sunday afternoon is expected to sort out most of the details.
Randy Carlyle’s charges go into the playoffs, losing four of their last six while being outplayed and outshot.
Regardless of who the opponent is, the Leafs will need a better performance than the one they posted Saturday against Montreal. For that matter, the kind of games they’ve been playing lately — getting outshot, outplayed and out-chanced — doesn’t cut it in the playoffs.
“We have to figure it out,” said forward James van Riemsdyk. “We can’t have off nights if you want to be successful in the playoffs. We’ve got to learn from this.
“It’s a brand new season. Whatever you’ve done in the past doesn’t matter any more. It’s a fresh start for everyone. We’re excited.”
It was the Leafs’ first game at home since clinching a playoff spot for the first time since 2004. A frisky ACC greeted their heroes with a standing ovation and peppered a lively “Go Leafs Go” chant throughout the first period.
They got livelier when Phil Kessel scored his 20th of the year to open the scoring. That’s the sixth straight season for Kessel to hit 20. It was also his 10th goal in 10 games.
But the cheers turned to jeers by the third period as Montreal scored four straight to chase James Reimer. Lars Eller had a goal and two assists. Andre Markov had a goal and an assist. Brendan Gallagher and Tomas Plekanec also scored for Montreal.
“We had a real solid first period. We were playing the type of hockey we believe we have to play to have success,” said Carlyle. “Then the momentum turned. We lacked the compete level to win battles. It turned from there.”
This is not the way Carlyle wanted to go into the playoffs, losing four of their last six, all the while outplayed and outshot and making like backchecking was no longer mandatory. Getting the puck out of their own zone seemed also to be a particular challenge for the Maple Leafs.
The second period was the Leafs’ worst. They actually had more power plays (3) than total shots (1).
“That’s not our group,” said Carlyle. “It’s one of the things we have to figure out.”
But give Montreal credit. Maybe the Habs took to heart the talk emanating from the Toronto camp that the Leafs were bigger and stronger and could easily handle Montreal. That kind of bulletin-board material can amp up the opponent and Montreal proved its point.
The Canadiens made the choice — intriguing to some — of going with Peter Budaj to start the game in net instead of Carey Price. The Leafs countered with James Reimer, with Carlyle staying true to his credo that he wouldn’t let his best players take any nights off while preparing for the playoffs.
NOTE: The local chapter of the Professional Hockey Writers Association inducted the Star’s Paul Hunter onto its Wall of Honour in the Air Canada Centre gondola. Hunter, now a feature writer, covered the Maple Leafs for more than 20 years for the Star.