Lights out?!? LMAO! Gardiner is a mistake machine and all the analysts, regardless of network, pointed out how the opposing teams would shoot pucks in on his side. Gardiner can't play defence and his only attribute is as PMD, which he barely excels at as he prone to giveaways, and the PP (assuming one of his shots actually hits the net).
He's a liability, for the most part. He 'had one bad game?!?' BS! He had one bad game in which his mistakes were worse than usual. Often, Andersen bails them out but in that particular game, he wasn't able to. If the Leafs are going to improve at all, they must make some drastic changes to their D core and they need some more scoring ability which can fight through checks. Nylander and Matthews, to name two, just couldn't fight through their checks. The supporting cast will need to be re-examined for next year as JVR/Bozak and a number of other forwards could (probably will be?) be gone. But, it's the defence that is priority number one. They are too weak there and the constant games with 40+ shots against proves it. The D has been a problem area for many consecutive seasons but the management only puts bandaids on it. If they're going to have a new GM, he needs to make his mark by addressing this problem instead of just 'patching it up.'