TORONTO — As the Toronto Maple Leafs stumble toward the conclusion of what is already the worst six-game homestand in franchise history, Jim Hiller struck a frightening tone.
The head coach of this 8-11-2 outfit didn’t point fingers at underachieving offensive stars or struggling defencemen. He didn’t chastise or fume or waste time addressing his frustrated skaters after a fifth consecutive regulation home loss — the worst such stretch for the Leafs since a 1990-91 group that finished dead last in the Campbell Conference.
No, Hiller instead preached optimism.
“Oh, I see lots of hope. I see lots of hope. Yeah. Yeah, I see lots of hope. I see it. I see it all over the place. I really do,” Hiller said, following a 5-2 loss to the juggernaut Minnesota Wild.
Hope?
The Maple Leafs have more regulation losses (11) than anyone in their conference. They’ve been outscored 22-9 during a homestand from hell. They can’t play two of their best defencemen because one (Morgan Rielly) is dealing with an injury and the other (Chris Tanev) is susceptible to one. And the vengeful Edmonton Oilers have already loaded their bags into Scotiabank Arena, resting up for a Saturday showdown.
Knowing he can’t take a hammer to a team gone fragile, Hiller spoke about the virtues of his bottom-line grinders, who were only on for one goal against versus Minnesota and have provided some noticeable pop during the slump.
"So, we talk about hope. Hey, these guys are playing outstanding. If we can bolster them, get a little bit more somewhere else, you know, that’s pretty exciting to have a fourth line like that," Hiller said, dekeing through red flag. "So, there’s optimism, without a doubt. And we'll get there. Doesn't feel like it right now, I know. Feels lousy."
To be fair, the Leafs have put together strong periods during this potentially season-undoing 1-7-0 stretch in which they only defeated 32nd-place Vancouver.
But any momentum gained is routinely cancelled out by a giveaway or a free net-front pass or an underachieving goalie or a poor penalty.
“It’s a little bit of the same, right?” captain Auston Matthews said.
A competitive game.
A superior opponent.
A few compounding mistakes undoing hard effort and leading to a pointless result.
Troy Stecher passed a puck to the enemy’s tape in his own zone. Darren Raddysh committed two stick infractions, one leading to a Minnesota power-play strike. And William Nylander ignored his check — hat-trick-notching Matt Boldy — on the third period’s soul-crushing winner.
"That kind of stuff has to leave our game, our mindset. I mean, I get it's tough sledding right now, for everybody. And it's obviously not fun when the losses keep piling up. I think the confidence kind of gets shaken a little bit. But it's just on us as a team, as a group, to fight through it," Matthews asserted.
"Until that happens, I don’t know if the results are gonna change."
We have yet to reach American Thanksgiving, and goalie Anthony Stolarz is already calling for the Maple Leafs to treat every contest coming up like a playoff game.
“You got to hit everything, block a lot of shots. I think we have to start playing some desperate hockey to kind of get us back on track and feeling good again,” Stolarz said.
"No one’s feeling sorry for us."
Added Zack MacEwen: “Everybody’s trying. Everybody wants this, and you can tell that it's just those little lapses that are killing us. We just got to clean those up.”
Stecher spoke of unshaken belief, and we believe the team has far from quit on each other.
Belief and hope, however, might not be enough.
Failing to so much as tie one of Utah, Montreal, New Jersey, Colorado or Minnesota at Scotiabank Arena these past two weeks shows where Toronto slots among the real Cup contenders.
Questions about roster composition and coaching are all fair game now.
Nylander led all Leafs forwards in ice time (21:55) despite registering just one shot and getting torched on the winner. Meanwhile, MacEwen (10:08) and Gavin McKenna (10:38), Toronto’s only plus forwards on this night, were two of Hiller’s least used.
It’s getting late early.
“Just happy that it's happening now versus later on in the year,” Nylander said. “So, we got to build our character here within the team and work our way out of this.”
One thing Hiller’s bunch does have is runway, 63 games worth. And a captain who hasn’t abandoned ship, who is still buying that hope.
“You got to come to the rink every day and work and have fun, no matter what the situation is. Continue to push each other. It's on all 20-plus guys to pick each other up and dig ourselves out of this hole,” Matthews urged.
“Making sure that we’re not hanging our heads or feeling sorry for ourselves — because that's just going to make it even worse.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• MacEwen was flying around all over the place, setting up Matthews with a saucer pass for Toronto’s first goal, sniping the second and throwing a couple hits.
Did going for a Gordie Howe hat trick cross MacEwen’s mind?
“It was on my mind for sure,” MacEwen said. “It just didn’t really work out.”
• Wild stat.
Minnesota’s top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek, and Matt Boldy is outscoring the opposition 17-0 during 5-on-5 play. Pure dominance.
Eriksson Ek left the game early after an accidental collision with Jake McCabe, but Wild coach John Hynes does not believe it’s too serious. Needs further evaluation.
• The Maple Leafs have just five of their goals from defencemen this season, the lowest percentage in the league (7.2 per cent). A little offensive jolt from the blue line would do wonders.
• Wild forwards Nick and Marcus Foligno, proud sons of ex-Leaf Mike, added 40-some names to Thursday’s guest list.
“At least,” Nick said. “Italian family. They show up.”
A doable drive south from their native Sudbury, Ont., and down the road from friends in Buffalo, where Mike served as captain, the brothers always get jacked up for Scotiabank Arena.
“It’s like a home game for us, right?” Nick smiles. And this time they’re on the same side. “Especially when we play against each other, one guy’s leaving angry, one guy’s leaving happy. And now we both leave happy, and it’s a good feeling for our whole family to be able to cheer for us. And a long time coming. It's been extra special.”
• Kirill Marchenko returned to the ice, albeit in a tracksuit, Wednesday as he works his way back from a knee injury. (Defenceman Nick Blankenburg, out since Oct. 22, also skated before practice.)
No coincidence that the Maple Leafs’ slide and second-line struggles have aligned with Marchenko’s absence. In the eight games the Leafs have finished without Marchenko, who played just 1:59 in Calgary before getting hurt, they’ve gone 1-7.
The scoring winger remains week-to-week.
