The Toronto Maple Leafs almost came back against the Utah Mammoth after being 5-2 down after 47 minutes, but they could not get the game-tying goal in time and fell to 3-3-1 after a nail-biting 5-4 loss on Tuesday’s NHL Frozen Frenzy.
Daniil But opened the scoring at 14:55 of the first period, after pulling a nifty move against Morgan Rielly and sniping a shot into the top corner of Anthony Stolarz’s net. Vincent Trocheck and Mikhail Sergachev made it 3-0 for the Mammoth, in under 5 minutes of the second period.
Auston Matthews responded with a power play goal. But, Dylan Guenther retained Mammoth’s three-goal lead after a long snipe from near the faceoff circle. Jack Roslovic cut Utah’s lead to two with his 3rd goal of the season. In the final seconds of the second period, MacKenzie Weegar scored the Mammoth’s fifth goal of the game, and made it 5-2.
John Tavares and Gavin McKenna brought the Maple Leafs back into the game with two 3rd period goals, but their comeback fell short as time ran out in an eventual nail-biting finish in Utah.
3 Most Disappointing Maple Leafs Players From 5-4 Loss To Mammoth
#3. Easton Cowan
The 21-year-old Maple Leafs forward had a team-high -3 rating vs. the Mammoth last night. From his 2 shots on goal, Cowan had a 0.14 expected goal rating during his 16:55 TOI vs Utah.
#2. Morgan Rielly
The veteran defenceman got absolutely walked by rookie Daniil But on the Mammoth’s first goal of the game. Morgan Rielly was caught sleeping during But’s nifty outside-inside move, as the rookie whizzed past the 32-year-old D-man and sniped it short-side past Stolarz in net.
Rielly ended the night with a -2 rating, and admitted his shortcoming on that specific play post-game.
“He made a good play. Obviously, that’s on me,” said Rielly.
#1. Anthony Stolarz
It could be argued that Stolarz should have done a better job of covering his short-side on But’s goal, but let’s chalk that goal up to Rielly being put in a blender by a rookie.
During the Maple Leafs’ power play in the 2nd period, Anthony Stolarz’s poke-check attempt fell onto Mikhail Sergachev’s stick, who scored a shorthanded goal and put the Mammoth 3-0 up.
Minutes later, Dylan Guenther beat Stolarz far-side from an unsuspecting shot that should have been a regulation save for the veteran netminder, but was misjudged. The puck hit him under his right arm and dribbled into the net to give the Maple Leafs a 4-1 deficit.
MacKenzie Weegar found the back of the net in the final seconds of the second period when his shot leaked under Stolarz’s right arm, the exact spot where Guenther had placed his goal-scoring shot.
To his credit, Stolarz did not give up any goals in the 3rd and gave the Maple Leafs an opportunity to make a comeback attempt, which they fell short of. He ended the night with a .821SV% by making 23 out of 28 saves.
Edited by Srihari Anand
