Analysis | Leafs fall swaying in painful loss to Jets

The Maple Leafs will return from a two-loss weekend trip to the Central Division licking their wounds in more ways than one after falling 6-3 to the Winnipeg Jets in a game Auston Matthews referred to as “a spectacle. of gong “.

There is concern for defender Rasmus Sandin, who left in the third period after suffering a knee-to-knee blow. He could join Mitch Marner, who missed both games, on the disabled list. Goalkeeper Joseph Woll knelt on the head the night after Jack Campbell was executed in Minnesota. Matthews was duped by Pierre-Luc Dubois, and somehow ended up with a brutal penalty.

He left the Winnipeg Jets feeling like champions. Logan Stanley raised his hands like a heavyweight after a tilt with Wayne Simmonds, who appeared to take matters into his own hands after the umpires seemed to look the other way for most of the night. Jets captain Blake Wheeler, playing his 1,000th game, was having a good laugh at the Leafs’ expense.

Those will be moments soon to be forgotten by a Leafs team that lost its balance after a remarkable 15-2-0 run.

“Things just got a little out of hand,” said Matthews. “I mean, it wasn’t really hockey in that third period. It was just a gong show. I really don’t know how else to put it. “

No calls: The Leafs were particularly concerned about a couple of no calls that could have cost them the game. They were trailing 5-3 in the third period when Dubois sat on Matthews and threw him a bit, well behind the play, with a referee watching. Matthews did not participate, perhaps hoping the Leafs would take advantage of that. The foolishness went on for a while before they were both expelled for rudeness.

Neal Pionk hit Sandin knee to knee during the 4v4 that followed.

“That should have been five and a major,” Keefe said. “It should have been a power play. This is how it should work. It was not so “.

Nothing was called.

“We didn’t really like the hit on Sandy,” Leafs captain John Tavares said. “Every time you see a teammate fall like this and get carried away, you are going to defend him.”

That’s when Simmonds was enraged, received a minor penalty and misconduct. The Jets scored on the power play, putting the game out of their league. By then, the Leafs were livid. Jason Spezza went after Pionk. Kyle Clifford got into this with Brenden Dillon. Simmonds left the area at the last minute and went after Josh Morrissey, but Stanley intervened.

“I certainly liked the emotional response from our team, given the circumstances,” Keefe said.

Jets coach Paul Maurice shrugged. “It was just a good hockey game, it had a little bit of everything. There was energy and excitement, as it should be. “

Woll loses: The goals of Matthews, who is on a six-goal streak, Michael Bunting and Ondrej Kaše weren’t enough to save Woll from the first loss of his young NHL career.

So maybe the Leafs must be stinky. They basically left Woll to dry when the Jets scored four times in the second period.

“We just walked away from our game for whatever reason and made it too easy for him,” Tavares said. “The way we defended was not good enough. We allowed them to use their ability, that made it really difficult for (Woll). I thought you did a good job of making a lot of important stops and keeping it (closed). We got to 5-3 going into third, and you obviously know what happened from there. “

Tire brands: The Leafs left for Minnesota on Saturday with a five-game winning streak. But the streak ended with Saturday’s 4-3 loss in shootouts. They dug a three-goal hole against the Wild and slapped each other on the back for coming back.

They seemed daring to dig a bigger hole Sunday (they were down 5-1 in the second) to see if they could do better. But while the Jets bowed, they didn’t break.

The Leafs have now allowed three or more goals in their last three games, having been seven and they haven’t allowed more than two. The last time the Leafs were this porous, they lost three in a row (to San Jose, Pittsburgh and Carolina).

It was the fifth of 13 straight games for the Leafs. They are 2-2-1 in the first game, 2-3-0 in the second.

Pile: A crazy second period ended with the Jets leading 5-3. The Leafs had done a decent job creating opportunities for themselves with strong play in the neutral zone in a first quarter that ended 1-1. But the Jets learned their lesson and applied it in the second period, creating no less than four odd-man runs while a beleaguered Woll had to wonder where all that great team defense had gone.

Dubois and Bunting traded power play goals in the first period. Then Andrew Copp, Evgeny Svechnikov, Kyle Connor and Nikolaj Ehlers piled in and opened up a 5-1 lead. You had to feel sorry for Woll in many of them because he seemed to be the only Leaf playing.

Then the Leafs got a break, a two-man lead, leading to Matthews’ 15th goal of the year. Kaše got lucky at 3:46 p.m., scoring from an almost impossible angle and taking advantage of a shot from goalkeeper Connor Hellebuyck to put the Leafs to two and give them hope for the third period.

Marlies Coaches: The game pitted two former Marlies coaches, Paul Maurice and Sheldon Keefe. Maurice coached the Marlies in 2005-06, before managing the Leafs for two years. Keefe coached the Marlies from 2015 to 2019.

“Every time I meet Maurice, he’s great talking to him,” Keefe said. “His experience is vast, not just with the Marlies and this organization, but with the league. I like to hear him speak.

The Marlies have been a breeding ground for NHL coaches, as Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins and Blackhawks coach Derek King have spent time at the Coliseum.

Milestone set: The Jets celebrated Wheeler’s 1,000th game with a video tribute. He received a silver stick, the traditional gift for the 1000 game mark. The 35-year-old American has embraced the capital of Manitoba as much as fans in Winnipeg have embraced him.

“It’s the first place that lets me be me,” Wheeler told NHL.com. “Being a big guy, you have to hit more, you have to fight more, you have to do this more, you have to do that more. I got to be me and I think the people here embraced the way I play. I try to play hard for our fans every night and that is why I have compromised my career here. “

List Notes: Nick Ritchie celebrated his 26th birthday … Marner missed his second game with an undisclosed injury. Joey Anderson and Travis Dermott were healthy scratches … With Woll in the net, Michael Hutchinson returned to the Marlies. He had been on the lookout for an emergency call … Kyle Clifford returned to the Leafs a day after being sent to the Marlies. The first move was simply a paper transaction. Clifford traveled with the Leafs from Minnesota to Winnipeg.