The Maple Leafs had worked hard to get back on level terms.
asserted
Leafs → work → terms
Down 3-1 late in the second period Tuesday night, Easton Cowan snuck a shot through Avalanche goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood as a power play expired to cut the deficit in half.
asserted
play → sneak → half
Jack Roslovic then tied the game early in the third on a terrific individual effort.
asserted
Roslovic → tie → effort
The good vibes were short-lived.
asserted
vibes → live → ?
Toronto was back trailing less than a minute later, undone once again by a series of egregious mistakes at an inopportune time, when Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog was left unmarked to bury his second goal of the game in what would end in a 6-3 victory for the visitors.
asserted
what → trail → visitors
“We made multiple poor decisions — multiple — and it’s usually how hockey works,” said Maple Leafs head coach Jim Hiller, whose club has lost four straight in regulation and six of seven overall.
asserted
club → make → seven
“Sometimes you make a bad decision and hopefully somebody cleans it up.
asserted
somebody → make → it
You can’t make one, two, three poor decisions in a row … and veteran players, you can’t have it.
asserted
you → make → it
“You just can’t have it, and that’s how you lose.
asserted
you → have → it
It’s just plain and simple.”
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Raddysh tried to get off the ice before the winner, but was stuck out for a 75-second shift before eventually losing Landeskog in front, while Toronto winger William Nylander was slow to react to his wide-open opponent.
asserted
Nylander → try → opponent
“You’re gonna take your chances and try to make hockey plays,” said Raddysh, who scored his first goal for the Maple Leafs in the opening period.
asserted
who → go → period
“I’d like to have that change back.
asserted
I → like → change
I was just trying to make a read.
asserted
I → try → read
I thought I could get off, but ultimately ends up in the back of the net.
uncertain
I → think → net
“That ends up being the key.”
asserted
That → end → ?
It was also a sequence of events Hiller, in his first season as Maple Leafs bench boss, as seen far too often for an injury-hit squad that sits 8-10-2 — good for second-last in the Atlantic Division through 20 games — after missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade last spring.
asserted
that → see → decade
“Our results suck,” said Hiller, who was a Toronto assistant from 2015 through 2019.
asserted
who → suck → 2019
“You can write those stories, there’s no question, and we deserve that.
asserted
we → write → that
But we’ve played some good hockey at times, and I thought (Tuesday) was another night where, for a large part of the game, we played some really good hockey.
asserted
we → play → hockey
Toronto goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky allowed five goals on 27 shots, marking the 12th time in 13 starts the two-time Stanley Cup and Vezina Trophy winner seen three or more pucks get past him in 2026-27 after signing a three-year, US$21-million contract in free agency.
asserted
pucks → allow → agency
“We have to put all the things — all the good things — together,” said the 38-year-old Bobrovsky, who is on a personal five-game losing streak and owns an ugly 3-8-2 record with an .881 save percentage and a 3.34 goals-against average.
asserted
who → have → percentage
“When things are not going our way, just keep it simple … protect the middle and play a simple defensive game.”
asserted
things → go → game
Hiller was asked directly about how Bobrovsky, who also allowed four goals or more for the fifth time in blue and white this season, fits into the group’s current struggles.
asserted
who → ask → struggles
“Been like the team,” he said.
asserted
he → say → team
“We’ve had great moments and we’ve had not great moments.
asserted
we → have → moments
We just haven’t had enough great moments together, and we’ve had the inopportune moments at the same time.
asserted
we → have → time
“It’s across the board.”
asserted
It → ’ → board
Toronto’s crowded trainer’s room currently includes injured top-line winger Kirill Marchenko, veteran defenceman Morgan Rielly and depth centre Colton Sisson.
asserted
room → include → Marchenko
The Maple Leafs have also had to do without forward John Tavares and shutdown blueliner Chris Tanev for long stretches.
asserted
Leafs → have → stretches
“I don’t want to make excuses,” Hiller said.
asserted
Hiller → want → excuses
It’s deserved.
asserted
It → deserve → ?
I think we could have a better record, but we don’t.
uncertain
we → think → record
We are what we are, and it’s a lot of different things.
asserted
it → ’ → things
“But I like the guys.
asserted
I → like → guys
I like the team.
asserted
I → like → team
We’re going to come out of it.
asserted
We → go → it
It just really, really sucks.
asserted
It → suck → ?
And the only way out is stay together and work.”
asserted
way → stay → ?
DIFFERENCE OF OPINION
Tanev returned to the Toronto lineup after sitting out Sunday’s 4-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils on the second half of a back-to-back.
asserted
Tanev → return → back
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
