  Leafs host the Rangers at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. (Sunmedia/Greg Henkenhaf) |
As the Maple Leafs were booed off the ice again last night, one fan's sign read: "Forget playoffs, just win a game," with the team's 0-6-1 record scrawled beneath.
The Leafs, it seems, are failing in both the standings and the crowd-pleasing business.
Their early hard work against the New York Rangers last night was undone by a 2-1 ratio in giveaways, New York hits, an 0-for-5 power play, and this year's rally killer: One bad goal that ruins team confidence.
"I'm at a loss for words," winger Lee Stempniak said of the 4-1 defeat.
"You come up short again ... there's no excuses. We have to find a way to play 60 minutes. We've hit rock bottom, but we're going to get out of it and hopefully be a stronger team down the stretch as a result."
On a night when the mid-1990s' Leafs were honoured for, among other things, a league-record 10-game winning streak to start the year, this cursed group could be the first in club history to drop 10 straight in October. They're sinking to the depths of the 1990-91 and 1985-86 teams, which had just one win in their first 10 contests.
They're also dead last in the NHL, unable to change their address for at least a week, idle until a Western road trip starts in Vancouver.
"We can't keep guessing what's going to work, we have to make it work," centre Matt Stajan said. "One guy isn't going to fix this, the onus is on each of us."
The crowd of 19,295 at the Air Canada Centre was kind, until Marc Staal put the Leafs down two goals for the sixth time in seven starts. The familiar refrain of boos, with added chants of "0-and-7" could not have escaped the ears of general manager Brian Burke in his private gondola.
LINEUP CHANGES
But Burke has stated that it's poor execution on the part of the players and not the fault of coach Ron Wilson. The latter has made two or three lineup changes a game and sent another message last night when defenceman Luke Schenn saw just three shifts in the third period.
"I need our defence to move pucks quicker, identify who is open and deliver it in a hurry," said Wilson, who worked on the team taking more shots in practice this week.
Toronto has led just once in seven games, a 4-3 opening night loss to the Montreal Canadiens and has just two first-period goals.
"You question everything, but these are our players and we have to figure a way to get out of this together," Wilson said. "With the exception of the 2-1 (loss to Ottawa), we've given up a soft goal at a critical moment when we need a save. (Staal's) wraparound goal ... when you're squeezing your stick down and you have to think about scoring three, you squeeze it even more."
Staal warded off hard-luck defenceman Jeff Finger, who had moved up during 4-on-4 play. That backfired into a 3-on-1 and Brandon Dubinsky's opening goal.
Netminder Joey MacDonald's second start and Finger's minus-3 night were capped by Finger blocking a shot and having the rebound go right to Enver Lisin, who scored. The conference leading Rangers (7-1) took it from there.
Seventeen of 18 Toronto skaters had at least a shot on goal, but Henrik Lundqvist shook off early fat rebounds to stop 34 shots, including a Jason Blake short-handed breakaway. Only a blitz to the net led by Niklas Hagman resulted in a Toronto goal by Ian White.
"We're making the goalie look good right now and that's not our plan," defenceman Tomas Kaberle said. "We've been trying a lot of different things. I thought it was one of our better games, but sometimes you don't get the result you want. We have to keep believing in ourselves."
LANCE.HORNBY@SUNMEDIA.CA
