The Toronto Maple Leafs, aided by a 39-save performance by Joseph Woll in a tight contest against the Detroit Red Wings, earned a point by forcing overtime, but for the second time in a row against their Atlantic Division rival, the Leafs lost 2-1 in the extra frame due to a faux pas by a rookie.
In Detroit last month, it was an attempted clearing by goalie Dennis Hildeby that fell short and led to Simon Edvinsson’s game-winner. On Wednesday, it was Easton Cowan being muscled off of the puck by Moritz Seider, (in some people’s minds, that would be called a tripping penalty), which led to Dylan Larkin’s deciding goal. The Wings are now nine points in front of the Leafs in the Atlantic Division in spite of being a totally unimpressive squad, but there is no disputing them having Toronto’s number this season, with two regulation and two overtime victories to sweep the season series.
Scott Laughton scored the lone Leafs goal in the first period and had the club’s other best offensive chance, flubbing a second-period penalty shot chance on Detroit’s John Gibson.
More critical than the loss was revealed on Thursday. Veteran Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who left the game in the first period after falling awkwardly after being tripped by countryman Lucas Raymond and forced the Leafs play most of the game with five defensemen, will miss some time, according to TSN’s Chris Johnston. Ekman-Larsson has been Toronto’s best defenseman this season, with 31 points (8 goals, 23 assists) in 50 games, and with less than two weeks to go before the Olympic break, it calls into question whether the 34-year-old will be able to play for Sweden in Milano Cortina next month.
Johnston also reported that blueliner Brandon Carlo may have tweaked something as well. Carlo played nearly 21 minutes against the Wings and has overall played well since returning from foot surgery on January 6, but with the news about Ekman-Larsson on top of the injury status of Chris Tanev, the Leafs are once again in a crisis situation on the back end.
The news on Tanev is that the defenseman has not had surgery on the groin injury that has kept him out since December 28th, and is still hoping to play this season, whereas surgery would end his campaign. If the Leafs are still in the playoff race come the Olympic break, they may want to put Tanev on season-ending LTIR to clear his $4.5 million cap hit to be able to fit in a blueline replacement, but if they fall back in the playoff race, then GM Brad Treliving will likely not be a buyer before the final trade deadline on March 6th.
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