Maple Leafs Takeaways: Worst loss of year stems from terrible start

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John Tavares' memorable goal came on a night the Maple Leafs want to forget.

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Tavares' 500th was overshadowed by the club's worst loss of the year, a 6-3 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, a final result that flattered Toronto as Tavares and Nick Robertson scored with the game out of reach and long after the Jackets had beaten Caden Primeau and the Leafs' poor defensive play five times in the first 13 of 24 throws.

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Our takeaways from the tough game at Nationwide Arena:

NO EXCUSE TO TRAVEL

Both clubs won and headed to Ohio the night before, hardly a tedious trip to the West Coast. So why did the Leafs look so flat?

Goals in transition have been a sore spot all year, and Cole Sillinger's easy pressure after the Leafs' breakout was thwarted forced coach Craig Berube to use an early timeout to bark at the bench. The problems only got worse when three Columbus defensemen found themselves in scoring position thanks to rushing runs with random players, although one of them ended up in a huddle with Steven Lorenz on the other end of the field after he crashed his head into the boards and the play wasn't over when the Jackets had the ball.

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Toronto's defensemen were involved in 11 of 23 team plays: six to the usually reliable Oliver Ekman-Larsson, three to frequent striker Morgan Rielly.

The Leafs also fell to a record 0-3 on the road this year, losing to Detroit, Buffalo and Columbus while allowing a total of 17 goals.

HARMFUL MELODY

In addition to William Nylander (lower body), Calle Jarnkrok (lower body), Chris Tanev (upper body) and Scott Laughton (foot), forward Lorenz may see more time on the sidelines.

Already shaken by a suspected head injury that cost him three games earlier this month, Lorenz broke his stick in frustration as soon as he reached the Toronto bench. He did not return for the third period and Berube said he would be re-evaluated on Thursday, which is an off-day following the back-to-back.

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Additional roster news will be announced Friday after practice ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers. This is a game Laughton and Tanev are eager to return to after a long layoff, while Berube noted that sitting Nylander for the second time in three games was more of a precaution than anything else.

At least the absences gave the coach the opportunity to try out some new lines in small samples, including Robertson and Matias Maccelli in high-profile roles, and by the end of the evening rewarded Sammy Blais by putting him Auston Matthews after scoring and assisting in his Toronto debut, taking Nylander's place in the lineup.

It's good to see Blais achieve this after almost a month of hard training without any game action. Berube said his former Cup champion St. Louis Blue is still going strong, and he was certainly energetic and creative in scoring his first NHL goal since the 2023-24 season.

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NET LOSSES

Primo scored 11 goals in his first two wins, but this was his first challenge as he stole an away point or two from his disgruntled teammates. After Sillinger hammered the net and tricked him with a fancy deck, the rest of the Jackets smelled blood.

A stronger performance after Primo's waiver would take away the narrative of when Joseph Wall will return to full training and likely spend some time in uniform with the Toronto Marlies.

CLUB 500

Tavares finished off a 2-on-1 from Matthew Nice, but even though the Leafs were down five at that point and he missed a couple of chances when the score was closer, it was another example of the 35-year-old never giving up.

His 500 points immediately tied him with Lanny McDonald for 48th in NHL history, and there's no reason why Tavares won't have another 45 by next year to catch Maurice Richard, who was the first NHL player with 500 goals and has the league's goals trophy named after him.

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