Maple Leafs work hard, but drop home opener to Canadiens
The only legitimate promise Mike Babcock could make with the mixed bag of Maple Leafs he will coach this season is that they will work hard.
One game of 82 in his first season and the Maple Leafs coach is a man of his word.
Ultimately, the Leafs fell 3-1 to the Montreal Canadiens in Wednesday’s curtain raiser at the Air Canada Centre in the type of game we’re likely to see regularly in this re-tooling Leafs season.
The Leafs worked hard, occasionally were sloppy in their own end and made a more talented opponent work for the two points. That will likely be a familiar story this season, but at least one with a glimmer of hope.
At the very least, Babcock’s players got the message through a high-volume training camp when they were tutored in the structured system that made him such a success with the Detroit Red Wings. It certainly kept them in the game for much of the night on Wednesday.
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