The Toronto Maple Leafs are penning one of the ugliest chapters in their long NHL existence after a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday consigned the winless Leafs to their worst start to a season since 1991.
The Leafs, off to a 0-5-1 start, and the New York Islanders are the only teams still searching for their first victory.
Only once since 1917, when the NHL was formed, have the Leafs got a campaign off to a worse start, stumbling out of the gate 0-6-1 in 1991.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“If it was easy to prevent losing streaks there would be a book on it but there isn’t — I’ve looked,” Leafs coach Ron Wilson told reporters. “We’ve got to relax, do a complete reset. The worst has already happened.”
The Leafs last won a Stanley Cup in 1967 and have missed the playoffs in the last four seasons, but they still command the highest ticket prices in the NHL and have sold out every game since moving from Maple Leaf Gardens to the Air Canada Centre in 1999.
But patience appears to be wearing among the fans, who were promised better by general manager Brian Burke after a major off-season overhaul brought in players such as Phil Kessel, Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek.
PHOTOS: REUTERS
The capacity crowd of 19,148 expressed their unhappiness loudly on Tuesday, booing the team in the final period.
“We haven’t given our fans any reason to cheer us,” said Wilson, who will also serve as head coach of the US men’s team at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. “We haven’t done anything and we have to do a better job of getting them on our side.”
Despite the off-season additions, Burke’s vision has yet to take shape. The team has been plagued by spotty scoring, a leaky defense and has had a turnstile in net.
The Leafs are already on their third netminder of the new season, sending Joey MacDonald in to face the surging Avalanche, who are off to a smart 4-1-1 start.
Colorado jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead, Brett Clark converting a power-play chance before David Jones split the Toronto defense with less than a minute remaining to send the Leafs into the intermission under a shower of boos.
Toronto answered back with a power-play goal early in the second on Beauchemin’s long-range rocket past a badly screened Craig Anderson.
But the Avalanche quickly regained control with a power-play goal from former Leaf Darcy Tucker and an even strength tally from John-Michael Liles to go 4-1 up.
“Just not good enough right now from all of us,” Leafs defenseman Komisarek said. “You lose a couple of games and it seem like it’s an insurmountable mountain to climb. But it’s not.”
At Columbus, Ohio, Rick Nash stretched his streak of multipoint games to four with a pair of assists 2:04 apart as the Columbus Blue Jackets past the Calgary Flames 2-1.
The Blue Jackets, off to the best start in team history at 4-1, made the most of a two-man advantage when former Flames Anton Stralman and Kristian Huselius scored.
Stralman netted his goal with a slap shot following a faceoff, and Huselius scored from in-close off a slick pass from Nash immediately after the second penalty expired.
Curtis Glencross scored for Calgary, which has lost three straight after opening the season with four wins. It was the second defeat in two nights for the Flames, who blew a five-goal lead at Chicago on Monday and lost 6-5 in overtime.
At Buffalo, New York, Thomas Vanek scored twice and Derek Roy had three assists as part of a four-goal second period in leading Buffalo to a 6-2 victory over Detroit.
Vanek left the game with an undisclosed upper body injury and will be out for “weeks,” coach Lindy Ruff said.
Paul Gaustad and Patrick Kaleta had a goal and assist each, and Drew Stafford and Clarke MacArthur also scored for the Sabres, who along with Dallas are the only NHL teams without a regulation loss this season.
Valtteri Filppula and Tomas Holmstrom scored goals for the Red Wings.
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