The Toronto Maple Leafs entered the Christmas break by defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets last Saturday 4-1. It was a very complete effort from the team and something the Leafs were hoping to build off of going into Wednesday's game against the Ottawa Senators, coming out of the break.
While things started out well for the Leafs, up 2-0 at the end of the first, the wheels fell off in the second. The Leafs looked like they had fallen asleep and let the Senators claw their way back into the game, eventually tying it at 2 on a short-handed goal from Drake Batherson.
Not only did the Leafs give up one short-handed goal, but they gave up three odd-man rushes while on the powerplay, which went 0 for 3 by the way. There is the old saying, "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard" and while the Leafs talent was outworked, the Senators talent outworked the Leafs checkers.
Following the game, Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe called out his team for their lack of effort and compete in the second and third periods and credited the Senators for theirs, specifically when down a man.
With the loss, the Leafs fall to 2-5-2 against the bottom seven teams in the league which is something that has plagued them for a decade at least. The Leafs will hope to fix their miscues and work ethic ahead of Friday's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, but it would not be surprising in the least to see them struggle to beat them for the second time in a week.
