That was ugly . . .

Where to start? Not only did the Leafs blow a two-goal lead to one of the bottom-dwellers on Friday afternoon, they wound up losing to Dubas' Pens in regulation on Saturday night. Yuck.

My takeaways:

-It's evident Marner is off his game. We all know when Mitch is 'on' he's driving play with his creativity, his ridiculous hockey sense and his inate ability to get Matthews the puck in space. It really feels off for him and the Leafs need him to find his game quick. It's not all on him though. After a hot start to the season, Matthews has really cooled down as of late. Keefe has been very hesitant to split those two up but if this continues, you wonder if he pulls the trigger. Matthews played with Nylander for a stretch last year and you wonder if they're back together here soon. (*Update: Keefe has split up Marner and Matthews at practice today. Marner now with Tavares and Bertuzzi, while Nylander joins Matthews and Knies.*)

-Yes, it's late November and there's still several more months of regular season hockey to go, but Giordano cannot keep logging top four minutes. The 40-year-old is playing a lot of hockey as of late - yes, he only played a little over 15 minutes against Pitt on Saturday but he played well over that number prior to that contest - so expecting him to be fresh for the playoffs isn't likely at this point. He looked slow and quite frankly, his age, in round one of the playoffs last season. Brad Treliving has to get to work soon and provide another body that can take some of the workload off of him or Keefe has to consider playing the bottom pairing more or the same thing will be happening come late April.

-Samsonov is showing why Washington gave up on him. His inconsistency is really becoming an issue. After a really solid first year with the Leafs, he's really struggled and it's a big cause for concern. His 3.58 GAA has him sitting 45th in the league, while his .878 save percentage has him tied for 46th overall. His numbers aren't all his fault as these stats are reflective in the club's defensive issues but he has to be better than this. Period.