MONTRÉAL – It was almost as if Sheldon Keefe could see this a letdown coming.
The head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs has witnessed his team get upset on enough occasions in this loud and proud hockey arena that his pregame message Saturday sounded just as much like a wish as it did a game plan.
“We feel like we can take control of the game,” said Keefe inside Montreal’s Bell Centre. “And it’s gonna be on us to do that, and then maintain that.”
Well, Keefe’s Leafs accomplished Step 1 handily.
It’s the “maintain control” portion of the mission they failed miserably, in dropping a 3-2 blown-lead overtime decision to a Montreal Canadiens team devoid of the elite game-breakers Keefe has at his disposal.
Mark Giordano finished off a tic-tac-toe play to score on Toronto’s first shot of the game. An unchecked Calle Järnkrok tapped in a back-door pass for a goal so easy it might register as an empty-netter. And the visitors strolled down the tunnel up 2-0 after a dominant 20 minutes.
This is how things are supposed to unfold when one side fancies itself a legit Stanley Cup contender and the other is busy announcing season-ending injuries to its brightest young hopes and dreaming of draft lottery luck.
How depleted are the Montreal Canadiens up front?
Enough that coach Martin St. Louis filled out his lineup card with an unconventional seven defencemen.
Enough that a couple reporters needed to triple-check that game-tying goal-getter Rafael Harvey-Pinard is, indeed, a real person.
Enough that when asked about his forward units, St. Louis leaned into gallows humour.
St. Louis quipped that he’s been trying to juggle lines — but he’s running out of balls.
So, kudos to the Canadiens, whose own strong play only works against their front office’s grand design. For they refused to go away in the second frame, just as the Maple Leafs refused to step on the pedal and turn the game into the blowout it probably should’ve been.
Montreal turned a snipe from Leafs killer Josh Anderson (who else?) into a spark and tilted the ice to an 88 per cent expected-goals share in the middle period.
One the most uninspired 20-minute samples of Leafs hockey all season.
“As soon as they got their goal, they got their legs going. They got some momentum from the crowd, and we obviously didn’t have a good second period after that,” Giordano said.
“It sucks. I think being up two going into the first intermission, you’re in control. And I thought we had looks to go (up) three, even four. But that’s the game.
“Once they saw something go their way, they picked up their game.”
“They kind of just took over, especially that second period,” Järnkrok added. “They were first on pucks, even second on pucks.”
Toronto smartened up in a fun, back-and-forth third period, only to lose its fifth consecutive decision in this barn when Montreal’s Rem Pitlick bent the twine behind a solid Ilya Samsonov on an overtime rush.
The team that dressed less talent but dug in and played hardest walked out with the two points. That’s hockey, boy.
Morgan Rielly, the only surviving member of Toronto’s own tank year, is one of the rare Leafs who can understand what it takes for the Canadiens to summon a performance like Saturday’s.
“It’s a grind,” Rielly said, thinking back to the doldrums of 2015-16. “You have a lot of pride, and you go out there, you work hard, and you’re doing everything you can to be the best player you can. And as a team, you want to win games, regardless of the standings.
“There’s no group in the NHL not trying to win every night. So, when you’re missing guys and when you’re grinding through the season, it can be difficult.
“You have to have faith in the organization that they have a plan moving forward.”
The Canadiens certainly have a plan, one that Cole Caufield’s shutdown should expedite.
The Maple Leafs, too, have a plan.
And part of that entails ridding themselves of sleepy, sloppy periods like Saturday’s second.
If the Leafs get an opponent on the ropes, it’s their job to force them into submission.
Fox’s Fast 5
• Rielly has now skated three games alongside Timothy Liljegren. The Leafs’ No. 1 D-man is a plus-3 with two assists over that span.
The three previous games, with a hodgepodge of partners, he went minus-5 and pointless.
• Wayne Simmonds says Costco employee turned Montreal rookie Arber Xhekaj reminds him of a young Kyle Clifford from their L.A. Kings days: big, rugged, fearless, and willing to prove himself at the drop of hat.
“I give him kudos, big time. He’s worked his way to the NHL, and I got a ton of respect for guys like that. You know, he did it the hard way. And he’s continuing to do it. He showed up in this league and proved that he can play,” Simmonds says.
Xhekaj already has 10 NHL fights (including preseason). Simmonds had nine in his 2008-09 freshman tour.
“I was definitely not shy. But at the same time, I think back then we had about five, six guys on any team that could rip your head off, right? So, it’s a little bit different now. That’s not taking away from anything he’s done. I think he’s done a great job.”
• Great for the tank. Horrible for the kid’s race to 50 goals.
Caufield’s season may be chopped short due to shoulder surgery, but he’s earned the respect of John Tavares.
Tavares raves about the 22-year-old’s release, his rapid improvement, and his blatant joy for the game. Tavares notes how Caufield uses his 5-foot-7 frame for good.
“I noticed that a lot with (Johnny) Gaudreau, early in his career, how they use being smaller not as a disadvantage but as an advantage to them. He just understands where his strengths are,” Tavares says.
• Saturday marked T.J. Brodie’s original two-week estimated return date from his rib injury.
Recovery has taken a little longer than anticipated but, according to Keefe, the past couple days have been positive and “we’re not expecting it to be too much longer.”
• Auston Matthews and William Nylander are tied for the Leafs’ lead with 24 goals apiece. Only the former is headed to next month’s All-Star Game.
“With the way it’s set up, you’re always going to have guys that are pretty deserving of going that won’t go, because of the format,” Matthews said. “I don’t think something like that really rattles him.”