The Maple Leafs are still waiting on Kirill Marchenko, and Tuesday night's 3-2 loss to Utah made the gap hard to ignore.
The winger went down in Calgary, and the replay of Marchenko's fall and knee concern set off alarms right away. Toronto has played three games without him since, and the mood around the team is getting restless.
Leafslatest put the feeling into words, saying Marchenko has missed only three games but it already feels like 30, and that his speed, playmaking and power-play skill make a real difference when he's on the ice.
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The numbers back the complaint. Marchenko has 14 points in 14 games this season, and four of his six goals came on the power play. He has four power-play assists too.
Tuesday's loss showed what the Leafs are missing. Auston Matthews had two assists and Jack Roslovic scored twice, and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 33 of 36 shots. It still wasn't enough against a Utah team that got a power-play goal from Dylan Guenther and another from Nick Schmaltz.
Nov. 17 is the earliest return on the table
According to the latest injury report, Marchenko is listed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and is expected to be out until at least Nov. 17. That's an estimate, not a promise.
It's also longer than what he reportedly told fans at the Calgary airport about his return, which was two weeks. Expect the wait to feel longer in Toronto.
The Leafs are 8-7-2 and sit 6th in the Atlantic Division, 14th in the NHL. That's a team with a +6 goal differential and no cushion.
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | DIFF | |
| 1. Boston Bruins | 16 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 23 | +20 |
| 2. Montreal Canadiens | 15 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 21 | +5 |
| 3. Tampa Bay Lightning | 14 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 20 | +7 |
| 4. Ottawa Senators | 16 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 19 | +1 |
| 5. Florida Panthers | 15 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 18 | +3 |
| 6. Toronto Maple Leafs | 17 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 18 | +6 |
| 7. Buffalo Sabres | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 17 | -6 |
| 8. Detroit Red Wings | 16 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 17 | -2 |
Losing a top-six winger who produces at that rate for weeks is a problem for a team that lost its last game by one goal. Jim Hiller can shuffle lines all he wants, but the power play misses a finisher and a playmaker who can shift the way defenses set up.
Saturday brings Montreal, and Marchenko won't be in the lineup. The next real checkpoint is Nov. 17, and until then the Leafs have to find those points somewhere else.
Are the Maple Leafs a different team without Kirill Marchenko in the lineup?
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