'Sloppy' Leafs rookies open tournament with loss to Habs Toronto blueliners fail to find sustainable groove, constantly hemmed into their own zone, in first game of three-game exhibition. TSN Maple Leafs reporter Kristen Shilton says they will try to shake off summer rust when they face Ottawa Senators rookies Saturday.

Kristen Shilton TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter Follow|Archive

TORONTO – Summer may be over, but for the Toronto Maple Leafs rookie tournament prospects the lingering effects of months without hockey showed up all over the ice on Friday night.

It was Toronto’s first game of the three-team tournament, against arch-rival Montreal. The Leafs were on their heels for much of the first period but dominated in the second, before falling apart structurally in the third and losing 5-2 at Ricoh Coliseum.

For many of the tournament’s skaters, it was their first major test since junior or professional seasons ended months ago, a chance to shake off the rust before training camp opens. The resulting messy play – from both sides, at times – wasn’t exactly a surprise, but the Leafs turned in more of it than their opponent, and paid for it on the scoreboard.

“It’s the first game after the summer,” defenceman Andrew Nielsen said. “A lot of guys haven’t played this system before and are trying to figure it out. We had a practice yesterday and a 20-minute morning skate to figure out the system and everyone was rusty, even the other team. They took advantage of our mistakes; I’m guilty of a few of those tonight.”

As a whole, the Leafs defence never found a sustainable groove over the course of the night – they were constantly hemmed into their own zone. Already playing without the organization’s best blueline prospect, Travis Dermott (he missed the game with an illness), the Leafs lost Eemeli Rasanen (lower-body) and Keaton Middleton (upper-body) before the game’s halfway point.

The offence managed a pair of quick goals in the second period from Martins Dzierkals and Carl Grundstrom to carry a 2-1 lead into the third, but it was mostly downhill from there. The Habs scored two goals in less than four minutes to take back the lead, and their fourth goal resulted from a turnover by Toronto 2017 first-round draftee Timothy Liljegren.

Liljegren had a tough night in his debut with the organization – he was on the ice for four of Montreal’s five goals – and was visibly frustrated after the turnover. Liljegren was requested by media after the game but did not speak.

“It’s an easy [play] for him to be hard on himself over, but I just watched it back and we had no structure, he’s got no support, no one is in the spot he’s supposed to be and if they were he would have had more options than the one he was trying to go to,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe. “I don’t see any issues with him trying to do too much. I’m not going to overthink anything and I wouldn’t expect him to.”

Citing a strong performance on the power play in the third period as a bright spot for his defenceman, Keefe insisted he didn’t think the way the Leafs executed lended itself to Liljegren’s strengths.

“It was a really sloppy and unorganized game by us and that doesn’t play into his kind of game,” he said. “He was probably a little frustrated with that. That power play and some other plays he made throughout the game were pretty special, and as the talent gets better and more organized, as people settle in, I think it’ll fit him a little bit more.”

Toronto will hold a practice on Saturday before facing the Ottawa Senators in their second game of the tournament. While they did outshoot Montreal 36-27 and showed bursts of what they’re capable of as a group, the Leafs left Friday’s game with the determination to not only capitalize on their opportunities next time, but offer up fewer to their opponent.

“I think we had too many individual mistakes today and we got punched for it pretty hard,” said Grundstrom. “We need to be more aggressive on their goalie and get more people to the net so we can score more goals, too.”

“I wanted this game to be the game where I knocked off the rust and got my legs back under me,” added Nielsen. “I see this as a chance to knock off some rust and get ready to play with the big boys next weekend.”

Game notes

- Michael McNiven was sharp in net for the Habs from start to finish, ending the night with 34 saves, and didn’t shy away from challenging the Leafs outside the crease. After going undrafted as an 18-year-old in 2015, the Canadiens signed McNiven to a contract in September that year. He’s played the last three seasons for the OHL’s Owen Sound Attack and will make the jump to the AHL’s Laval Rockets this year.

- In the AHL playoffs last spring, Leafs’ goaltending prospect Kasimir Kaskisuo kept the Marlies afloat through a few slow starts. On Friday, it was Kaskisuo, and then Ian Scott, who gave the Leafs a chance to recover from a difficult start. Kaskisuo stood tall against some great setups by the Habs, showing the impressive calm and efficiency in net that he did last postseason. Scott faced only one shot in the second after relieving Kaskisuo midway through the period, and while he couldn’t withstand the Habs’ onslaught in the third, he didn’t get much help, either.

- Middleton had a difficult night defensively, struggling to keep up with the Habs speed and misreading the play on Thomas Ebbing’s first goal, but he tried to give the Leafs a spark with a second period bout with Michael Pezzetta. It ended up backfiring and forcing him out of the game entirely after he took a couple of good punches to the head. His status, along with that of Rasanen and Dermott, is unclear for Sunday.​