Maple Leafs cooked at home in mistake-filled loss to Minnesota Wild

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The Maple Leafs were a step away from getting back to a playoff spot.

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Until they took a walk on the Wild side.

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Completely out of sync at the start of the first of five straight at home, all against current playoff teams, they dropped a 6-3 decision to Minnesota, matching their largest margin of defeat at home this season. Toronto’s defence in particular had a rough, red-light night on its coverage.

A win would’ve nudged the Leafs ahead of the Buffalo Sabres for a wild-card berth, but the Leafs still had a little jet lag from their week on the road. Now attention turns to a divisional tussle against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. Toronto can’t afford to sleep through its wake-up call for that with Detroit possibly opening a 10-point lead.

Auston Matthews had brought the Leafs back within two goals with a third-period breakaway pass from Max Domi, his 769th point to pass the late Borje Salming for fourth place in franchise history. But Marcus Foligno’s empty netter to complete a hat trick clinched it.

Toronto did have Monday’s first high danger chance, courtesy of referee Brandon Blandina, who accidentally deflected Scott Laughton’s wraparound from behind the net in front to Steven Lorentz. However, goalie Filip Gustavsson was going to win his fourth in six decisions against the Leafs and his team scored on its first shot versus Joseph Woll.

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Benoit returns to the lineup

Simon Benoit, back in the lineup after two games with an injury, made an early trip to the box and defenceman Brandon Carlo drifted away from Vladimir Tarasenko at the side before Laughton could drop down and cover.

At 10:45, Matthews had won a defensive zone draw, but Bobby McMann couldn’t handle Jake McCabe’s breakout pass and no one was watching Ryan Hartman behind play. He had two cracks at Woll before scoring. Kirill Karpizov, Minnesota’s leading scorer, added his second assist.

The Leafs got one back soon after, during a double minor to Jared Spurgeon, who’d drawn blood on John Tavares with a high stick. Tavares stayed out to bury a Matthew Knies’ feed. Knies, battling a lower-body injury, was questionable until puck drop with Marlie call-up Jacob Quillan in the warm-up just in case.

Woll was replaced by Dennis Hildeby for the third period after facing 29 shots. Nick Robertson crashed the Wild cage for a late goal, his 11th with linemates Nicolas Roy and Easton Cowan assisting.

Lhornby@postmedia.com
X: @sunhornby

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