The Toronto Maple Leafs entered their clash with the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday riding high. Toronto won their first two games of the season rather emphatically. And they were led by superstar Auston Matthews, who recorded hat tricks in both games. However, they ran into a wall against the Blackhawks.

Toronto fell in front of their home fans by a score of 4-1. Matthews failed to record a point, let alone find the back of the net. The Maple Leafs won the faceoff battle but struggled to remain in control of the puck, especially in the first period. It's a stark difference from their first two games. And this did not go unnoticed by head coach Sheldon Keefe.

Keefe spoke with reporters after the game where he was rather blunt in his assessment of his team's performance. “I thought we were really sloppy with the puck in the first period and then we got beat in transition in the second period. It's really it,” the Maple Leafs head coach said, via Toronto reporter David Alter.

He noted that the crucial turnovers in the first period came from their best players. Overall, Toronto had a rather careless start to the game in the eyes of their bench boss. “So that didn’t give us a chance to take a hold of the game like you want to be able to do on home ice. We’ve seen this movie before,” Keefe continued, via Alter.

Blackhawks goalie Arvid Soderblom had an outstanding game. He turned away 34 of the 35 shots he faced, allowing a lone goal from John Tavares. However, he received help from his offense in a big way. Corey Perry scored his first goal as a Blackhawk. And Andreas Athanasiou recorded two assists in the win.

Toronto will certainly look to bounce back from this loss in their next game. The Maple Leafs are in action on Thursday night when they travel to South Florida for a game against the Florida Panthers.