Instant Reaction: Maple Leafs embarrass themselves in loss to Canadiens

Two division rivals, two of the most historic franchises in the NHL, two teams coming into a Hockey Night in Canada matchup having battled serious struggles lately. The Leafs were 1-4-2 in their last seven games heading into the game and the Canadiens had lost five in a row. The result? An energized Canadiens team that showed up in front of their home crowd and a feeble Toronto Maple Leafs team that crumpled as soon as they allowed the first goal of the game, with the Canadiens cruising to a 5-2 win over the Leafs.

The Leafs are an injured hockey team right now, and nobody will deny that. They had shown signs of life in their last couple of games despite not always having the result reflect it, but going down 4-0 by midway through the second period is inexcusable when you’re in the position of the Maple Leafs, as Martin St. Louis would likely say about the Habs had it happened the other way.

Joseph Woll was pulled after allowing four goals on 25 shots, but it was far from his fault. He may want a couple of the goals he allowed back, but the team seemingly stopped skating after the Canadiens scored their first goal. The second period was even worse, as it’s typically been this season, to the point where the Leafs had a pathetically low 9% expected goals rating (xG). Whether you’re an analytics fan or not, you can acknowledge that hovering around a 0% chance to score any goals is pretty less than ideal.

The Leafs are at a point now where they’re going to have to decide if they’re willing to go the distance to prove that they’re still a playoff team, let alone a Cup contender. The Atlantic Division, and quite frankly, the Eastern Conference are as wide open as they’ve ever been, and to expect the other teams to falter and gift wrap them a spot in the Top 3 might as well be a tanking strategy.

The injuries haven’t helped at all, but they didn’t perform well enough while they were healthy to give themselves the benefit of the doubt. The ball is in their court, and with pressure mounting higher each game and five straight road games ahead of them, they’re running out of time to figure out what kind of team they are.