The Ball Drop is still almost six hours away, but the Leafs seemed a little too eager today and dropped it early, losing 6-3 to the Vegas Golden Knights whilst being brutally outplayed for the majority of the game.

It was wretched turnover after wretched turnover, with a couple of Auston Matthews goals in between as some sort of consolation prize, or whatever.

The first thirty seconds of this period seemed promising, at least. Zach Hyman threw a puck on net right off the bat that would beat Malcolm Subban, but not the post.

Just a couple minutes later, however, Vegas would draw first blood. And second blood. And eventually third blood, too. Yikes.

The first goal would come at the hands of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who took a nice feed from Alex Tuch and deked out Frederik Andersen to put Vegas up 1-0 just over two minutes in.

Less than two minutes later, the Golden Knights would find themselves streaking up the ice again, and William Karlsson would bang home his 18th of the season. 2-0.

That wasn’t all, either. Erik Haula would beat Frederik Andersen on one that Freddie would probably like to have back to put Vegas up by 3.

3 goals on 8 shots. Not ideal.

The Leafs would have a couple of decent chances later in the period, but were unable to convert. They’d go into the intermission down by 3, and being outshot 11-4.

The second period started off a little better for the Leafs, though that’s not saying much after the abysmal opening frame. After a strong early effort to open the period up, the Leafs were quickly rewarded. Connor Brown would feed the puck in front of the net to Patrick Marleau, who managed to just tuck it past Malcolm Subban for the Leafs’ first of the night.

The Leafs were briefly back within two, though it wouldn’t last:

Just a dreadfully unlucky play by Marincin, who banks the puck off of the referee, leaving it within reach of Jonathan Marchessault, who dishes it to William Karlsson for his second of the night. 4-1.

While the Leafs looked a little better throughout the frame, much of it remained frustrating and futile, with turnovers abounds, much like the first.

However, in the final minute of the frame, we were at least reminded that Auston Matthews is a Toronto Maple Leaf:

My beautiful son from Arizona snaps his 16th of the season past Malcolm Subban, and the Leafs escape the period only down by 2.

First off, a good thing:

A jubilant Auston Matthews nets a second goal to kick off the third period in style, cutting the Knights’ lead to 4-3. For a moment at least, it looked as if #itwasfourone was going to go the other way for once.

However, it would be all for naught. Six minutes into the third period, the Leafs would completely break down defensively and, uh, it was really, really ugly. So ugly that Sportsnet almost blacked out the sequence:

A disastrous sequence by Connor Brown, Leo Komarov, and Roman Polak, who stands between two Golden Knights and watches as Freddie Andersen is hung out to dry. Jonathan Marchessault notches his 14th of the season, is good at hockey, and makes it 5-3 Vegas.

The Leafs would come close a couple more times, but nothing would come of it. William Karlsson would add an empty-netter to seal the victory for Vegas on his 20th goal of the season. It was also the first Hat Trick in Golden Knights’ history.

More or less a game that I’d like to forget. The good news is that tomorrow is January 1st, and hopefully a clean slate.

Mike Babcock’s New Years’ Resolution should probably be to re-think his personnel decisions as the Leafs set their sights on 2018, and a six-game homestand to kick off the new year.

See you on Tuesday when the Leafs host the Tampa Bay Lightning, which isn’t at all concerning.