Yikes. Sometimes that’s all you can really say about an especially bad goal.
Every tally has been precious for the offense-starved Toronto Maple Leafs, so giving up a soft one hurts that much more. That’s exactly what happened early in the third period tonight, as Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored from his own blue line on a sleepy Jonathan Bernier:
Rule of thumb: when people are bringing up Vesa Toskala’s name in Toronto, you know things are going poorly.
Peter Horachek on OEL goal: "The puck kind of went high and knuckled...[but] you’ve got to say that’s his job and he’s got to have that."
— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) January 30, 2015
Update: Yep, the third period ended up being pretty rough for the Maple Leafs overall.
Phil Kessel first-period goal wasn’t nearly enough for the Maple Leafs to secure a standings point. Martin Hanzal scored the game-winner at the 3:47 mark of the third period and Sam Gagner found the net for an insurance tally with three-and-a-half minutes left.
Almost as disturbing for Toronto is that a flailing Arizona team hogged the puck. The Coyotes generated a 45-25 shot advantage on Thursday with a 21-6 second period being most glaring (even without featuring a single goal).
It’s one thing to be dominated by a contending team; it’s another to be handled thoroughly by a squad seemingly in free-fall mode. Bad times for the Maple Leafs.