Leafs steal a point in loss against the Sharks kicking off West Coast road trip Maple Leafs still need to focus on consistency

In a fight for playoff positioning, the Leafs headed to the West Coast, facing off against the young San Jose Sharks for game 72 of the regular season.

The Leafs would look to continue their play after thrashing the Philadelphia Flyers 7-2 at home on Tuesday night. 

Even with coming off an exciting blowout win on home ice, Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube had a chance to talk to the media about what his team still needs to shore up before tonight’s matchup and the playoffs. 

“Consistency with our game, night in night out, playing solid good hockey,” Berube said. “Our identity, make sure we’re checking and doing things the right way.” 

The Leafs would also like to rebound from the last meeting, as San Jose stole a win away from the team, winning 3-2 in a shootout after the Leafs decided to blow a two-goal lead.  

In the First period, San Jose would take advantage of a poor start from Toronto, getting many chances, including a rocket wrist shot from Macklin Celebrini that was saved by Leafs netminder Joseph Woll. 

With the Sharks’ pressure only getting more dangerous by the second, they would be rewarded as Tyler Toffoli would tap a puck into the net, giving him his 26th goal of the season and San Jose a 1-0 lead.  

Even with the Leafs having much difficulty finding their legs early, Toronto would get a power play, which has been red hot at fifth overall in the league and first overall in the month of March. 

With the man advantage, William Nylander would be able to tie the game up at 1-1 a piece, scoring his 41st of the season, setting a new career high in goals for the Swedish international. 

The Maple Leafs would then find themselves with another powerplay with an opportunity to take the lead late in the first. 

Unfortunately, this power play would be one to forget as a miscued pass would send Collin Graf on the counterattack, where he was able to use a screen in front to wrist one past Woll, giving the Sharks their second lead of the game going into the first intermission. 

Waiting no time in the second period for action to start, Leafs defenseman Simon Benoit would over skate a pass to the point, sending the Sharks on a two-on-one where Alex Wennberg would capitalize on the mistake, giving San Jose a two-goal lead.

The Sharks multi-goal advantage would not last long as the Leafs would be awarded their third power play of the game, where Auston Matthews would tap one in that had sneaked through Alexander Georgiev. 

This would give the Leafs eight goals in their last 12 power plays, adding to their total in the red-hot month. 

As the back and forth action would continue, it was the Sharks turn to strike as Woll had misplayed a puck that hit off William Eklund and found its way into the back of the net, making it a 4-2 game. 

With the Leafs having to overcome another multi-goal deficit, Scott Laughton, who hasn’t had the best Leafs tenure as of yet, finally found paydirt with a blast from the point that got past Georgiev.

This goal would be Laughton’s first point as a Maple Leafs player, getting the monkey off his back and cutting the Sharks lead in half.

“Yeah it was nice, nice probably for my own confidence and nice to get one for sure,” Laughton said about him scoring his first as a Leaf.  

After some rough play from Max Domi that awarded San Jose another power play, the Leafs would head into the locker room still down by a goal.     

Going into third, San Jose would once again regain another two-goal advantage with a power play strike from Toffoli, sucking the life out of the Leafs. 

With the Leafs looking like they had already packed up for a flight to Los Angeles, no hope was left, but with just under a minute left and the goalie pulled, John Tavares would tip one past Georgiev to make it a 5-4 game, giving the Blue-and-White hope. 

With 12 seconds left on the clock and the Leafs pushing hard for an equalizer, Mitch Marner would slip a pass to an open Nylander, where he made no mistake and fired the puck into the net, giving him his second of the game and forcing overtime to steal a point in a game where all was lost. 

In overtime, chances for both teams would be at a high, leaving fans to see three-on-three at its finest, but with no one being able to find the game winner, this one would need a shootout. 

San Jose would end up taking the win as Georgiev was able to stop Marner on the final attempt, leaving the Leafs securing only one out of the possible two points. 

After the game, Tavares had a chance to address the media on his team coming away with a point.

“Yeah, obviously great, compete right to the end and no quit, and find a way to earn a point and plenty of opportunities to win that game in extra time,” Tavares said. “Obviously unfortunate not to earn the two points tonight, obviously we gotta find a little more consistency here.”  

The Leafs will continue their West Coast road trip as they face the LA Kings this Saturday, looking to add more wins before the post-season.