Instant Reaction: Maple Leafs waste solid regulatory effort with lousy overtime vs. Sharks

No problem, right? It happens. A young, rebuilding team with some exciting pieces, including a recent first overall pick who finished third in league scoring, made a late push against an old playoff team that should be at their best, and they came out on top with the extra point as the ice expanded in overtime. You could make this argument for regulation, but a downright terrible overtime performance by the Maple Leafs sealed their fate with a 3-2 overtime loss and completely negated any goodwill the team may have had from their play in regulation.

The Leafs were clearly the slower team in the match, with half of the Sharks’ roster being within half a decade of high school, but they managed things well and kept the match relatively close, despite some strong goaltending from Alex Nedeljkovic limiting them to two goals. In overtime, the Sharks didn’t have to do anything to keep the Leafs at bay as they didn’t look energetic at all.

Despite two shifts for the duo of Auston Matthews and William Nylander, their overtime performance was nothing more than a revolving door of entries and re-entries after failing to get going. Nylander dished the puck directly to the Sharks defensemen and Matthews attempted to take on three Sharks players in one go despite being tired at the end of a shift, preventing them from scoring and ultimately helping the Sharks steal the extra point.

The Leafs will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when they host Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers, a team that has suffered the same way they have this season.