‘It’s a grind’: Weary Maple Leafs running out of no-show losses

TORONTO — No excuses, they say. Plenty of reasons, though.

In the hours leading up to and in the minutes following a game in which they trailed from tip to tail, the Toronto Maple Leafs spoke about the gruelling travel involved in their first road trip involving multiple time-zone changes and multiple overtimes.

The nagging injuring to top-six forwards William Nylander and Matthew Knies were major talking points.

So, too, were the tight playoff race and tighter schedule.

Too many wins feel like an effortful struggle, and each loss carries the heft of opportunity squandered.

“It’s a grind,” captain Auston Matthews told reporters, after his team sagged through a 6-3 thumping at home to the Minnesota Wild on Monday. The better team won.

“I thought we were just flat from the start of the game,” he added. “Didn’t seem like we had the legs we needed tonight.”

Didn’t have their legs in Utah last Tuesday, either, when the Leafs also surrendered a touchdown. Lost their legs in Vegas on Thursday, when they blew multiple multi-goal leads.

Perhaps the Maple Leafs deserve more grace in this space. Since Christmas, they do rank among the circuit’s hottest clubs, going 8-2-3 and mounting a .730 points percentage in the face of injury woes.

Problem is, their generally crummy performance from October through late December has narrowed their margin for error, their permission to shrug off scheduled losses.

“It’s always hard coming back from the West Coast,” Scott Laughton said pre-game.

“It’s a crazy schedule right now. I know the league is feeling it,” Joseph Woll said post-game.

These are accurate statements, and they aren’t delivered in a woe-is-us tone.

So, sure, a little understanding might be granted. 

Not for a team built to be a playoff lock but still on the outside looking in with 34 to go.

Not by Toronto’s improving divisional opponents, only one of which (Ottawa) has fewer wins than the Leafs’ 24. 

And not by a Scotiabank Arena crowd that booed the local heroes off the ice after 40 minutes, when they were losing 5-1 and starter Woll was mercy-pulled for Dennis Hildeby.

“We didn’t play well enough. That’s it,” Craig Berube summed.

“We made too many mistakes.”

A bad line change. A sluggish forecheck. Some poor reads and sloppy decisions.

The Wild dominated the Leafs’ top guns at even strength with defenceman Jonas Brodin and their entire second line — Matt Boldy, Joel Eriksson Ek, Marcus Johansson — sidelined by injury.

But power forward Marcus Foligno torched the Leafs with his first career hat trick, and Minnesota’s all-Olympian defence pair of Quinn Hughes (two assists, plus-3) and Brock Faber (two assists, plus-4) showed what a difference swift-skating puck-movers can make from the back end.

“It’s hard to get your forecheck established,” said Matthews, limited to one shot. (He scored on a garbage-time breakaway.)

No question last week’s long flights and every-other-night slate resulted in fatigue for the Leafs’ homecoming.

“That’s true. In saying that, that’s where you gotta be smarter, and you gotta manage it a little better,” Berube countered.

“Right here,” as the coach pointed to his head. “Mental.”

Trying to predict the Eastern Conference playoff picture will drive a fan mental these days.

Do the Leafs have enough talent to survive the sprint? Absolutely.

Do they have enough track left? To be determined.

“It’s a tight race, so all of them matter,” Knies said. “Every point is important right now.”

Every stinker is less easily shrugged off, and every point is more crucial, because the Maple Leafs left so many on the table in the first two months of the season.

The Detroit Red Wings — one of the eight teams ahead of Toronto in the Eastern Conference standings — roll into town Wednesday.

“Tomorrow’s a new day,” Woll said. “Back to work.”

Because they’re running out of days to take off.

• Whatever lower-body injury Knies is playing through — and he’s been managing it since at least November — benefits from rest. 

Knies scored four goals in three games immediately following the Christmas break. Since then, the Leafs have given him a pass some practices.

Knies was a game-time decision Monday and skipped line rushes, yet he did play on the second line.

He has scored one goal in his past 10 games.

“It’s obviously bothering him a lot, for quite some time,” Berube said. “It hasn’t gotten really much better.”

The silver lining of the power forward not making Team USA is that he can use the Olympic break to rest and heal for Toronto’s playoff push.

“The more wear and tear on it, it’s not going to get better,” Knies said. “It’s been, honestly (expletive), but I gotta do my best to prepare as well as I can.”

• Berube revealed that it is a groin injury Nylander has been dealing with since Dec. 28 and that he aggravated in Las Vegas on Thursday. There is no timeline for return.

“I’m not sure when he’s going to be on the ice,” Berube admitted.

The Swedish superstar’s Olympic participation looms large here.

• Matthews’s hot streak continues. The captain’s 25th goal of the season gives him 11 in his past 12 games and allows him to pass Borje Salming for fourth all-time in Maple Leafs scoring (769 points).

• Aging sniper Vladmir Tarasenko’s productivity has taken a turn for the better. The veteran scored just 11 times in 80 games as a hired gun for Detroit last season, converting on just 8.3 per cent of his shots.

The 34-year-old Russian has already matched that total in his first 43 games with Minnesota, enjoying a three-point showing that included the game-winner Monday. 

He was acquired by the Wild for nothing, a pure $4.75-million salary dump by the Red Wings.

Pot a few timely ones in the post-season, and he’ll be worth every penny.

• A fun and fiery Laughton moment was caught on camera by a fan in Winnipeg Saturday. Immediately following Max Domi’s overtime winner, Laughton gave the Jets fans behind the visitors’ bench a crybaby face.

“I was pretty fired up at the end of the game just with that penalty,” Laughton explained, referring to Gabriel Vilardi’s embellishment of a Knies high-stick. 

“And then I caught it out of the corner of my eye. He was kind of giving it to me. So, I was hoping for a nice overtime winner there so I could get him back. I stayed in that spot and made sure I was in a good position.”