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Spezza’s tough luck blooper helps send Maple Leafs to another loss

Screen Shot 2019-12-04 at 10.17.42 PM

Just when it started to look like the Toronto Maple Leafs were turning things around and get back on track they had a couple of meltdowns over the past 24 hours.

After a disastrous third period sent them to a blowout loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday, they came back on Wednesday night and put together a really strong effort against the Colorado Avalanche that still turned into a tough luck 3-1 loss.

One of the reasons it turned into a loss?

This unfortunate sequence events for forward Jason Spezza early in the third period that led to a Valeri Nichushkin shorthanded goal that would end up going in the books as the game winner.

With the Maple Leafs on the power play, Spezza broke his stick on a shot attempt and then found himself in the awkward position of having the puck come right to him at the blue line.

His desperate attempt to hold the puck in the zone (without a stick) ended up turning into an unintentional pick on his teammate, defenseman Morgan Rielly, resulting in a collision and a clean breakaway for Nichushkin.

He did not miss.

The Maple Leafs have now lost two in a row and three out of their past four games to remain on the outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture. They definitely look better under new coach Sheldon Keefe, but they are still only on an 82-point pace for the season and really need to start piling up some points.

Games like Wednesday’s where they play well and still find a way to lose are not helping.

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.