VANCOUVER—It’s not that playing the Vancouver Canucks is a no-win situation; for most teams the opposite is true.
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opposite → ’ → teams
Saturday night, the Maple Leafs concluded an up-and-down Western trip against a Canucks team that sat last in the NHL in shot differential, last in both expected and actual goals for, and last in the standings.
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that → conclude → standings
The Canucks won two of their first three games, and had one miraculous come-from-behind win in the 12 games since.
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Canucks → win → games
good hockey forgot.
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hockey → forget → ?
So, playing the Canucks is both the easiest matchup in the league and a chance to embarrass yourself.
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playing → play → yourself
But this is a Toronto team that is defined by its mood swings, and they were all on display in a 4-2 win that was sealed with an empty-netter with 96 seconds left.
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that → define → seconds
“No, no, no, I don’t think so,” said head coach Jim Hiller.
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Hiller → think → ?
“No, I think we’ve been inconsistent, too inconsistent.
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we → think → ?
If there’s one thing that I would point to is, we’ve had some great moments in games and we’ve had some times where we just haven’t had a good pushback, so that has to be addressed.”
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that → ’ → pushback
You can feel the effects of the tank era in this town: Toronto usually produces sellouts across the country, but there were empty seats.
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Toronto → feel → country
The Go Leafs Go chants that ring out in every Canadian arena are usually countered by the home fans.
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that → go → fans
Here, some went largely unopposed.
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some → go → ?
They stink on ice.
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They → stink → ice
And after back-to-back losses, the Leafs are still short two top-six forwards, but defenceman Chris Tanev was back in the lineup after being sidelined by injury since Oct. 10, and was paired with Morgan Rielly.
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Tanev → sideline → Rielly
Anthony Stolarz started in goal after Sergei Bobrovsky’s consecutive losses, and in the first 83 seconds Easton Cowan hobbled straight to the room after blocking a shot, and William Nylander scored on a breakaway to make it 1-0.
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it → start → breakaway
Cowan would return a few minutes later, but didn’t look entirely comfortable.
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Cowan → return → ?
Neither did Toronto.
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Toronto → do → ?
The Canucks scored a power-play goal when Brock Boeser jumped behind Jake McCabe and Colton Sissons for a breakaway pass and turned Stolarz inside out like a spatchcocked chicken: 1-1.
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Boeser → score → chicken
The Leafs failed to score on a five-on-three, and it wasn’t that they were playing down to their opponent; they were playing below them.
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they → fail → them
The Canucks average a league-worst 21.1 shots on goal per game.
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Canucks → average → game
They managed 12 in the first period against the Leafs and outshot Toronto 9-5 at five-on-five.
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They → manage → five
In the second period, Auston Matthews and Darren Raddysh executed a picture-perfect give-and-go and Matthews zipped it home for his 11th goal in 16 games.
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Matthews → execute → games
Former Canuck Zack MacEwen scored on a high point shot that slipped out of a glove and bounced in off former Leaf Luke Schenn to make it 3-1.
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it → score → Schenn
Nick Paul hit a post and Vinni Lettieri hit another one in a span of about a minute.
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Lettieri → hit → minute
The Leafs outshot Vancouver 13-4 at five-on-five in the second and produced a shocking 95 per cent of the expected goals.
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Leafs → outshoot → goals
Matthews said it was about puck management, Hillier said forechecking.
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Hillier → say → forechecking
And then the Leafs settled into the couch to watch a hockey game in the third, Vancouver closed to within 3-2 and suddenly the visitors were holding on against a team that could trip over the blue line if given the chance.
uncertain
that → settle → chance
But Stolarz went for a goalie goal before Teddy Blueger corralled the puck and put it away.
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Blueger → go → it
“I feel like we at times play, you know, a good 40 minutes, a good 50 minutes ... (but) maybe on a night when you’re not feeling it just trying to bend not break, just kind of play a little bit of a different game, try to grind it out a little bit until we can find our legs,” said Stolarz, who made 27 saves.
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who → feel → saves
“And I think tonight was a perfect example of that ... in the second period we took over and hemmed them in.
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we → think → them
And as you can see, when we do that we’re a hell of a hockey team.”
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we → see → team
The schedule gets tougher fast — Utah, Montreal, New Jersey, Colorado, Minnesota, Edmonton — so this was a game the Leafs needed.
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Leafs → get → ?
After all, if you can’t find consistent quality, you can at least win the games everyone is supposed to win.
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everyone → find → games
And still, this version of the Leafs veers from thrilling to terrifying to a depressing sort of mess, sometimes within the same game.
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version → veer → game
Of course, maybe at some point inconsistency becomes a constant, or even an identity, if you do it long enough.
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you → become → it
Toronto has some time to find out.
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Toronto → have → time
The Aporia
