Following a 3-1 Maple Leafs’ loss to Pittsburgh Thursday night, talk sprung up regarding what made the difference between the two teams after the Leafs turned in a mostly solid defensive effort that should have won them the game.

There was Sidney Crosby, who magically set up one of two Pascal Dupuis goals in the third period off a pair of Leafs mistakes that were essentially isolated incidents on an otherwise good night defensively.

And yes, Pittsburgh has Crosby, the best player in the world. And yes, Dupuis and Chris Kunitz are his linemates, a threesome that is above and beyond anything the Leafs have and probably the best line going in the NHL at the moment.

But while the Leafs lamented a pair of costly mistakes that sprung Crosby and Co. to a come-from-behind win, their seventh consecutive victory and counting, no one on the Toronto side outside of coach Randy Carlyle really saw what could have saved the night for the Leafs.

“We made two mistakes and they cost us, but if we score on the powerplay, I don’t know if we (have the same result),” Carlyle said. “Those things are the difference in a game.”

Indeed, with all the talk about defence, Toronto had the opportunity to at least gain a point if they score on one of their three powerplay opportunities.

The fact is, two of those opportunities came in the third period. Penguins goalie Marc-Andre-Fleury was up to the task against the Leafs, and he garnered the game’s first star as a result.

But for all their excellent work in restoring their defensive game from a dismal outing in Winnipeg Thursday, the Leafs couldn’t help themselves with a goal on the powerplay.

Carlyle wasn’t picking on his team’s powerplay, which has been strong in many respects but has lacked the ability to finish things off.

He just put that deficiency into perspective as the Leafs, now on a four-game winless streak, fight to keep their playoff berth alive instead of surging forward to protect the playoff seeding they have.

“We did play well enough for 53 minutes,” Carlyle said. “But these are the types of games you are going to see. When you have your powerplay score a goal in a game like this one, you have a chance to win it.”

And with the Leafs losing Thursday, and Winnipeg winning over the Rangers, the Jets jumped into the eighth and final playoff spot, a point behind the Leafs, who are tied at 31 points with the Devils for seventh.

That makes Saturday’s home tilt against the Jets a huge game, one the Leafs have to win or risk falling out of playoff contention.

Carlyle’s observations also brought to mind the scenario the Leafs faced last year when they suffered a monumental 2-13-2 collapse after Feb. 7 to fall out of a playoff berth into an eventual 13th overall finish.

While Toronto’s confidence collapsed and never returned, a large factor in the failure was the fact the league itself became noticeably more competitive once it reached the halfway mark of the schedule.

Toronto is witnessing the same phenomena now. The club reached the halfway point four games ago and was in command of a top-five seeding after a 5-4 win over Ottawa.

Since then, the Toronto side has put up three solid efforts in its four losses. But there has also been a marked increase in the compete level of all teams, not just the Penguins, Bruins and other elite teams.

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The challenge, as the Leafs continue their search for consistency on their defensive play, is to push back this season with things like a better powerplay so they don’t suffer a steady fall off like they did a year ago.

“That’s a tough one because we played good enough, we made a couple of mistakes, then we’re not good enough to get the win,” said Leaf goal-scorer Tyler Bozak.

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