LOS ANGELES

Not that we would have expected to hear Brian Boyle make excuses late Tuesday night, but the 32-year-old wasn’t looking for an easy escape following his first game with the Maple Leafs.

That Boyle travelled cross-country from Tampa that day to join his teammates in California and might have been tired against the San Jose Sharks?



So what?



“You put that aside once you put the gear on and you try to find some sort of rhythm and chemistry,” Boyle said after the Leafs lost 3-1 in San Jose.



“We (himself and linemates Matt Martin and Josh Leivo) are trying to talk a lot. As the game progressed, winning a couple more draws helped, we had the puck a little bit more, but as a line we wanted to do a bit more.



“We wanted to get in more and create some havoc. We got clogged up in the neutral zone and it’s not our game. We want to change the momentum a bit and I don’t think we quite did enough of that.”



Boyle played 12 minutes 33 seconds in his Toronto debut, winning eight of 17 draws



CoachMike Babcock’s view of Boyle’s first game as a Leaf?



“I thought (he was) fine,” Babcock said. “He travelled all the way across the country and played. What he is going to do is help us, a veteran guy on the bench, and that’s just good for the coach. I heard him say one time: ‘Just settle down,’ (to others on the bench) and even that, to me, is a positive thing. He is going to be an important guy for us.”



SHAKE IT OFF



Mitch Marner returned after missing five games with a shoulder injury, and though you wouldn’t have known it considering some of the plays he made, he acknowledged after that some rust needed to come off before he got going.



“It took a couple of shifts, I think,” Marner said. “It’s just like everyone — getting back into game speed is a little tough the first couple of shifts. I think after that I was back in it.”



Marner had one shot on goal and four attempts in total in 15 minutes 53 seconds of work.



LESSON UP



In Babcock’s view, the Leafs didn’t have the kind of consistent mental strength in San Jose, and that lack helped lead to the eventual downfall.



So was it a lesson for the group? Yes and no, apparently.



“I don’t even know if there is a lesson,” Babcock said. “We can be better. They did a real good job of skating in the offensive zone. Everyone thinks about skating on the rush and that, but I thought they skated and they made it hard on us. I thought they were physically stronger and more determined on pucks than we were and we have to better at those things.



“Every once in a while you get a lesson and you just got to learn and move on.”



LOOSE LEAFS



With 31 goals, Auston Matthews easily should break Wendel Clark’s Leafs rookie record of 34 goals, done in 1985-86, barring injury. There’s another goal-scoring record in Matthews’ sights, as he has scored 12 first goals this season. That’s the most by a Leaf since Mats Sundin had 12 in 2002-03, and two shy of the club record of 14, set by Dave Andreychukin 1993-94 … In a paper move, the Leafs sent forward Nikita Soshnikov to the Toronto Marlies, for the purposes of Soshnikov being eligible for the AHL playoffs … The Marlies acquired forwardMike Sislo on loan from San Antonio and sent forward Colin Smithto San Antonio.