The Toronto Maple Leafs will look to salvage something from their three-game homestand when they host the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.
In a potentially worrying sign for the young season, Toronto’s revamped offense was effectively neutralized by a rugged New York Islanders defense in a 4-1 loss Saturday night. Colton Sissons scored the lone goal for the Maple Leafs, whose top-six forwards were held off the scoresheet in their third straight loss.
“They played hard. I thought they did a good job of keeping us on the outside, and I think we passed up on a lot of shots today, too, and just kind of made it a little easier on them,” Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said. Matthews had his six-game point streak snapped. “They played really well, they played hard. But I thought too much on the perimeter and I think we could’ve done a better job of generating more shots on the net.”
The Maple Leafs were hampered by the absence of alternate captain John Tavares, who is week-to-week with a lower-body injury, and the acrobatics of Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin, who made several key saves during Toronto’s three power plays in the third period. Still, the team’s extended offensive droughts, including a six-shot second period, will give coach Jim Hiller plenty to address in the coming days.
If there is a silver lining to Toronto’s injury situation, the next few weeks could give Hiller an opportunity to test the resilience of a younger, faster group of depth players. After controversy over Gavin McKenna’s limited ice time in Thursday’s loss to Buffalo, Hiller gave the first overall pick 17:56 of ice time Saturday, third-most among Toronto forwards.
“I don’t think anything really shakes him,” Matthews said of McKenna. “He’s got confidence in his game. He knows what he can do out there.”
San Jose begins a busy stretch of its Atlantic Division road trip Monday, with three games against Canadian opponents in four days.
The Sharks are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. It was their third loss in four games and the fourth time this season they have blown a two-goal lead in the third period. Still searching for their first regulation win of the season, coach Ryan Warsofsky remained optimistic about his team’s recent play.
“We’re all disappointed, we all want to win a game in regulation. There’s no secret about it,” Warsofsky said. “At the same time, the world’s not coming to an end. We gotta learn from this. There’s some adversity that we’re going through and it could be a lot worse.”
Macklin Celebrini will seek his first career goal against the Maple Leafs in his third trip to Toronto. The 2024 first overall pick has lived up to expectations in his third season and recorded his fourth multipoint game of the campaign against the Red Wings.
The Sharks have won the teams’ last four meetings.