It's been a couple of months since the Leafs turned in one of these uninspired performances, as they were badly embarrassed on the second game of their California trip; it's likely that fatigue played an issue, as the back-to-back game after the long flight out is tough, but nevertheless this was one of the Leafs' worst games of the year.
An early exchange of goals may have given some hope that the Leafs could stay with the Sharks, but that didn't last long; Toronto had only one chance other than Gardiner's goal, while San Jose tallied 13. The second was little better, with the Leafs getting just one more chance, and San Jose getting seven, including two goals.
By the third period, the game was out of reach, but there was still no letdown from the Sharks, which had another dominant period, though at least the Leafs managed a little fightback in this one.
This was the worst game of the season for the Leafs in chances, the first time they failed to get more than 20% of the ES chances, an miserable -24 and a season-worst 32 ES chances against. The close chances are even worse, with the Leafs beat out 17-2.
A summary of the scoring chances:
| Status |
Overall |
ES |
| Team |
Toronto |
San Jose |
Toronto |
San Jose |
| 1 |
2 |
13 |
2 |
13 |
| 2 |
4 |
7 |
1 |
7 |
| 3 |
7 |
14 |
5 |
12 |
| Total |
13 |
34 |
8 |
32 |
Details below.
The first period seemed to signal another brutal game for the Leafs, but they recovered well, pushing San Jose close, and managing to hold them to a goal until the final couple of minutes.
San Jose dominated much of the first, but most of their chances came on the powerplay, as did their second goal. They ended the frame up 10-3 overall, but only 5-1 at even strength. Toronto had a similar second period to San Jose's first, some early powerplays letting them get some momentum, generating 11 chances, five at even strength, in the first half of the period to get level. San Jose came back to take the second half of the second, including scoring the ultimate winning goal, which banked off a Leaf in front.
Toronto weren't able to do much chasing a tying goal in the third, similar to the Montreal game. They managed three chances in the period, but only one hit the net, and one of those three came after the empty net goal had already made the lead 4-2.
Overall, the game ended up fairly even, with San Jose taking a marginal victory both in overall and even strength. This advantage all came from a eleven minute stretch from the end of the first to the middle of the second, which the Leafs won 13-2 overall, while losing the rest of the game 6-18.
A summary of the scoring chances:
| Status |
Overall |
ES |
| Team |
Toronto |
San Jose |
Toronto |
San Jose |
| 1 |
3 |
10 |
1 |
5 |
| 2 |
13 |
7 |
7 |
6 |
| 3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
| Total |
19 |
20 |
11 |
14 |
Details below.
