Tavares just reached the 20-goal mark for the 15th time in his NHL career. Does the Leafs center get enough credit for his ability to score? The Toronto Maple Leafs fell to the Dallas Stars 4-1 at Scotiabank Arena on Tuesday. And while it certainly wasn't the only reason they came up on the losing end, the club wasn't feeling great about a pair of penalties that were assessed to John Tavares. The first penalty came when he was called for hooking Stars defenseman Esa Lindell at 17:31. With the game tied 1-1, Tavares took a slashing call on Stars forward Matt Duchene, which was met with a chorus of boos at Scotiabank Arena. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7un5yZS_fw[/embed] Mavrik Bourque scored on Dallas' ensuing power-play and that ended up being the game-winner. "They want to call that on John Tavares, that second penalty, but they're going to let everything else go in the game?" Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube questioned after the game. "I'm not going to get into the referees, but we're working. We're not not working. We're working." Tavares also didn't want to use the penalties as an excuse. "I didn't like them, but at the end of the day, it's out of your control, and we've got to find a way to dig deep and then just continue to play through it," he said. "IOnly so much you can talk to the officials about, and then eventually it's got to go out there and play and do your job and then execute better." The Maple Leafs hit three posts on their very first power-play opportunity of the game but were unable to beat Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger, who made 23 saves on 24 shots. Dallas picked up their first win in eight games against the Leafs dating back to 2022. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjExNjM5NDEwNTc4NDM0MDI0/googlenews.svg] Stay updated with the most interesting Maple Leafs stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favorites on Google News [https://news.google.com/publications/CAAqBwgKMK-q0gsw7sXpAw/sections/CAQqEAgAKgcICjCvqtILMO7F6QMwytvfCA?ceid=CA:en&oc=3] to never miss a story.
