The Toronto Maple Leafs took a step back in their race to get a playoff spot by losing 3-2 at home to the Philadelphia Flyers on March 10 while the Buffalo Sabres beat the Bruins in overtime, 4-3, in Boston. The Leafs loss leaves them 6 points out of the playoffs after they'd recently crawled to within 3.
The game, which featured two ugly looking hits, one which will be looked at by the league, may have been decided on a soft goal courtesy Leaf goalie James Reimer, who failed to guard the post and let a weak Darrol Powe shot in from behind the net to make it 2-0. "A couple games ago, I was getting the bounces," Reimer said. "Now, I don’t seem to be getting them.”
Leafs Again Work Hard But....
The Maple Leafs did not lose their third straight without working hard but it was matched by a Flyers team that won their second straight after being in a tailspin that included a loss in Philly to Toronto last week. In that game former Leaf Kris Versteeg scored twice in a losing cause, while in this one back in T.O. Versteeg was held off the scoresheet but was a winner.
The other Philly goals came from defenceman Andrej Meszaros and Claude Giroux, who scored his 22nd late in the second. Toronto went into the third down 3-1 and managed only a score by Joffrey Lupul, his fourth since coming over in a trade. In the second Mikhail Grabovski had a Dion Phaneuf shot deflect off his head past a strong Brian Boucher.
Mike Komisarek on Daniel Carcillo
The Meszaros goal came on a five-minute first period power play for the Flyers after Mike Komisarek pounded Daniel Carcillo into the boards from behind. Komisarek was assessed the five minutes and banished from the game. Carcillo missed a few shifts but did return.
Philly’s James Van Riemsdyk hit Leaf Colby Armstrong hard in the game, not knocking the Leaf forward out but knocking him hard. After laying on the ice for a few minutes Armstrong left the game but was soon back. There was no penalty called on the play.
Maple Leafs Falling Back in Playoff Race
To get into the playoffs now the Leafs must put together a strong win streak over their final 14 games to make up those six points and keep ahead of other clubs looking to push into the eighth spot The benchmark for the Stanley Cup playoffs is set at 90 points and Toronto is now in a situation where they're gonna need other teams to help them out.
With but 68 points to get to 90 Toronto will need 11 wins from their final 14 and even then it will not be a lock. Last year 90 points made the playoffs but the three previous years it took 93,94 and 93 points respectively.
In the words of former Leaf Tiger Williams, Toronto may be done like dinner.
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