The Toronto Maple Leafs started the game with a 2-0 lead, and Dennis Hildeby was giving them an inspiring performance in net, which is something that’s been hard to come by this season. Surely the Leafs made some good out of this? Well, if you consider a point for a 4-3 overtime loss in which they held a lead twice and blew it both times, you could say they did.

The only people who weren’t to blame for the Maple Leafs’ fourth loss in a row were Dennis Hildeby and John Tavares. The former is the owner of one of the least-deserved four-goal-against performances of all time, keeping the Maple Leafs in it at every possible opportunity until they were hemmed in to the point of no return. The latter scored two of the team’s three goals and has been one of their most consistent producers after taking a massive hometown discount, so he’s safe of too much criticism.

You can acknowledge the fact that missing Auston Matthews, Chris Tanev, and Scott Laughton from the lineup hurts and won’t make things easier during an already adverse stretch. But that acknowledgement doesn’t save them from the fact that they managed only 15 shots against a team that was icing Brian Dumoulin and Cody Ceci as a pairing tonight.

Had the Leafs not taken advantage of a weak performance from Darcy Kuemper in net for the Kings, the score would have been a lot more lopsided. In fact, had they scored in overtime and took two points, this conversation isn’t quite as loud. But they didn’t even get a chance to possess the puck in overtime, so the talking point is moot. It was a horrendous performance in what’s been a string of ugly hockey to start the season, and in the past week specifically.

The Leafs will look snap the losing streak on Saturday when they visit the scorching hot Connor Bedard and his Chicago Blackhawks. Hopefully, for their sake, they can figure out how to sustain some offensive zone pressure at practice on Friday, otherwise it will be much more of the same.

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