The music stops for Erik Källgren and the Leafs in a loss in Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—There seemed to be an odd vibe around the Maple Leafs all day.

They were getting Auston Matthews back after a two-game suspension, but it seemed likely that long-time Leaf Travis Dermott was playing his last game in the blue and white. Then Ondrej Kaše left the game, crawling off the ice, after taking a hit to the head.

So all that — plus the trades their Atlantic Division foes were making — overshadowed a disappointing 6-3 loss the Nashville Predators.

“Maybe we were a little bit flat to start,” Matthews said. “In the second period, we got going a little bit. They won the special teams. We fall behind and have to dig ourselves out of a hole. I thought we did some good things. We have some things to clean up.”

Matthews scored once, set up Mitch Marner for one of his two goals, hit two posts and was basically in beast mode in pursuit of the puck. He had been on a five-game scoring streak before the suspension, and basically picked up where he left off. He now has 46 goals.

“It took me a period to get going,” Matthews said. “Even still, I felt my timing was a little bit off, like a quarter-second off. That’s to be expected. Halfway through the game, I started feeling more like myself. Had some good opportunities. Hit a couple posts.”

Roster flaws

With teams all around them making moves to shore up for the playoffs, and Monday’s trade deadline looming, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas was able to have one last look at the lineup he has before he makes his final decisions on trades.

It was far from a perfect lineup, basically a one-line team one that gave up any number of odd-man rushes and prime scoring chances. And whatever magic the Leafs had shown in playing to protect their rookie goalie in his first two starts vanished Saturday.

Erik Källgren looked solid in net, though he had a tendency to give up juicy rebounds. He took a hard hit from teammate Justin Holl, who was forced into him by Filip Forsberg. And he took a delay-of-game penalty as well, tossing the puck over the glass.

The Leafs failed to convert any of their three power plays. The Predators scored on the last of their four, with Filip Forsberg putting the game away. Forsberg became the all-time leading goal-scorer in Predators history with the goal, surpassing David Legwand with his 211th

“You never want to let in five goals. Of course, that’s just not good enough,” Källgren said. “But I felt I felt pretty good … Obviously the result was not good enough.”

As for Kaše, head coach Sheldon Keefe was optimistic he would be fine.

“I was told he was doing OK,” said Keefe. “Certainly a lot better than when he came off the ice.”

Flat notes

The Leafs played a flat first period, with the best player in a Toronto jersey being Källgren. He turned aside 15 of 16 shots, with Tanner Jeannot scoring the period’s only goal, completing one of many odd-man rushes the Leafs allowed.

Toronto was flat for most of the second, and trailed 3-1 as a result heading into the third. There was not much Källgren could do on Nashville’s second goal, a brilliant deflection by Eeli Tolvanen. But he was out of position — and screened — for Mattias Ekholm’s one-timer.

Marner had the Leafs’ goal, one-timing a pass from Michael Bunting.