Maple Leafs must get their house in order

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The maligned Maple Leafs will still feel some love Wednesday night, as always, at the climax of a loud and flashy pre-game Bay St. show.

But woe on them if another slow start follows four losses on their just-completed Western road trip. They provided little for travelling members of Leafs Nation to celebrate and patience back home, stretched by long memories of playoffs past, will be thin.

To try to get back in their good graces, coach Sheldon Keefe will likely start with a lengthy reset practice on Tuesday. The Leafs face an improved Philadelphia team, albeit which will have played the night before, then the division-leading Boston Bruins to start a weekend back-to-back that ends in Carolina.

In reviewing the last trip, that began with a win in Winnipeg, Keefe ruefully noted a favourable overtime outcome in San Jose, Anaheim or both would’ve lightened the mood on the flight back.

He compared it to this time last year when William Nylander‘s OT goal in Chicago provided an improbable win that began reversing a 2-5 start.

“(Anaheim) was pretty similar to that game in nature,” Keefe said. “We get the win, that changes things for us. We don’t have that feeling going home now.

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“It’s such a fine line. Every time you get into these overtime games it can change so much. There’s a puck laying on the goal line (Mitch Marner deked his way to within inches of beating Anaheim’s John Gibson) then 15 seconds later, it’s in our net and changes the whole vibe.

“So, we can’t get too worked up about the result, just focus on the process, what we did well that gave us a chance to win.

‘We’ll get some healthy bodies back soon (defencemen Timothy Liljegren and Jordie Benn complete their conditioning stints with the Marlies at week’s end). Those kinds of things will give us a boost in themselves.”

lhornby@postmedia.com