from Rosie DiManno of the Toronto Star,

First game home after a long road trip, a scenario typically susceptible to a stumble. Facing the same opponent — reigning Stanley Cup champions, no less — you humiliated just a few days ago. The Vegas Golden Knights were huffing steam out of their nostrils.

Situation ripe for the stars to misalign. For the Maple Leafs to sink below the horizon of a seven-game win streak screeching to a halt. Most of these guys have never even been in that time zone before.

For nearly 30 minutes on Tuesday evening at Scotiabank Arena, Ilya Samsonov — the sublimely resurrected Samsonov, on a personal hurtle of six consecutive wins (didn’t start last Thursday’s dismantling of the Knights off the Strip) — looked like he might singlehandedly dictate this encounter. And in a way he did, in the 6-2 defeat....

It was as stinko a game as the Leafs have put up circa ’24, the team inexplicably so much better on the road this season: 15-11-2 at home now. Not quite meek in submission — Keefe would later claim it had been the team’s best start to a game all season, which is a jaw-dropping exaggeration — but it lacked resolve after Toronto had barrel-housed along this past fortnight. The offence dried up and the defence got snookered, most notably the reunited (until the third period) tandem of Morgan Rielly and T.J. Brodie, minus-four for each on the night.

All good things must end, and this one with a thud.

“We lost two points today, yeah?’’ a downcast Samsonov said afterward. “It’s a hard loss for us, especially for me.

“I think we, especially right now, we play better, yeah? We a better team, yeah? I don’t know. I’m so … so mad (that) we lost two points like that.’’

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Game highlights are below.