Maple Leafs vs. Avalanche: Losing streak continues at home in back-and-forth affair

Résumé détaillé

Toronto drops fourth game in a row — all in regulation, all on home ice — and suffers its sixth loss in seven games.

If ever there was a team desperate to win the 20th game of an 84-game season, it was the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The injury-ravaged and struggling Maple Leafs put in a game effort, but it wasn’t enough as they fell 6-3 to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night at Scotiabank Arena.

It was the Maple Leafs fourth loss in a row — all in regulation, all on home ice — and sixth loss in seven games.

It leaves them at 8-10-2 after 20 games, a worse start than last year’s 9-9-2. Last year — you should remember — didn’t go so well.

“We could have a better record, but we don’t,” said coach Jim Hiller. “We are what we are, and it’s a lot of different things. The goals against, let’s start there. We’ve had penalties at inopportune times. But I like the guys. I like the team. We’re going to come out of it. It really sucks.

Despite their woes, the team has been at least entertaining and engaged in most games.

This game was no different. The game was there for the taking, and it’s not like the Avalanche were dominant. They made just as many mistakes as Toronto. But MacKenzie Blackwood was better than Sergei Bobrovsky when it mattered in net.

A rush by Jack Roslovic, back after missing Monday’s game, tied it 3-3 just 4:11 into the third period. But within a minute, Gabriel Landeskog scored his second of the game for a 4-3 lead as the Leafs suffered an almost predictable, heartbreaking, post-goal letdown.

Artturi Lehkonen put a dagger in the game with 2:45 to go, catching the Leafs on a line change. And 15 seconds later, Martin Necas scored into an empty net.

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