It wasn’t necessarily an effort problem, but playing a back-to-back against two of the strongest teams from the Metropolitan Division didn’t help the Toronto Maple Leafs. Throw in a New York Islanders squad wanting to get their chunk of flesh from John Tavares for him leaving their organization in the summer and you have a stinker of a game; a 4-0 shutout where the Maple Leafs were outgunned and outplayed, especially in net.
This loss once again has the Maple Leafs (26-11-2) eight points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning, but six points and eight points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins, respectively.