It was an interesting week to be a Toronto Maple Leafs’ fan with four games this week, and many of these games being measuring stick games or games in which the Maple Leafs can prove their new found identity. The Maple Leafs were 3–2 before playing the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday. Although this record is not that noteworthy at face value, the Maple Leafs were clearly playing a new style of hockey, Berube hockey, much to the enjoyment of Maple Leafs’ fans everywhere. This relentless forecheck, covering the puck carrier immediately, laying the body, plugging up the neutral zone, and the north-south brand of hockey is what Maple Leafs fans have wanted to see from this roster for nearly a decade, especially in the playoffs.
However, as the Maple Leafs tend do, they giveth and taketh. Let’s look at how the Maple Leafs performed game by game this week, and we’ll finish with the biggest star and disappointment.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Going into the Lightning game, the Maple Leafs were coming off a 4–1 loss to the New York Rangers. Though the Maple Leafs played well, they needed to have a statement game, and given their history with the Lightning, there was no better opportunity.
Immediately, the Maple Leafs started on time. This has been a trend since the beginning of the season, which is a welcome change from previous years. The Maple Leafs crowded the neutral zone and were very quick on the puck carrier, leaving very little room and decision-making time for the Lightning players.
The Maple Leafs dominated the Lightning all game, winning 5–2. The second line of Bobby McMann-Max Domi-William Nylander was clicking once again, generating five points between the three, with Nylander scoring two goals. The first line generated offensive chances, resulting in a Matthew Knies goal and a power play goal from Auston Matthews. Key performances from newcomers Anthony Stolarz and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who have been very consistent game after game stood out with the former making big, timely saves, and the latter making bone-crushing hits.
Perhaps most encouraging that this is a new Maple Leafs team was their performance in the third period. Even when it was 5–1 Maple Leafs heading into the third period, the Maple Leafs were still pressing to score, and not sitting back. This is such a jarring look because in seasons past, the Maple Leafs would often sit back on a lead, the opposition would enter the zone, allow the opposition to set up, and apply pressure.
Heading into the second game of a back-to-back against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Maple Leafs were looking like a strong playoff team.
Columbus Blue Jackets
This game could not have been a better example of the polar opposite of how the Maple Leafs played most of this season, and especially the game the night before. The Maple Leafs did not start the game on time and everyone looked sluggish. Dennis Hildeby, who some think is the goaltender of the future did not have a strong game. Perhaps the only bright spots were Knies scoring a goal for the second game in a row and Nicolas Robertson scoring his first goal of the season after an explosive preseason.
While some would say that it can be expected due to the game being on the latter half of a back-to-back, what’s more concerning is the trend over the past near decade. Time and time again the Maple Leafs would dominate a strong opponent, only to lose in a humiliating fashion to a weaker opponent the very next game. Columbus clearly took the Maple Leafs’ lunch money.
In the Maple Leafs locker room, there is a new mantra: “No grit. No grind. No greatness.” When asked if Head Coach Craig Berube used this mantra with other teams before, Berube apparently responded that he has used this phrase for this Maple Leafs’ group only. It is telling and encapsulates the weaknesses we have seen with this team season after season, especially come playoffs. Unfortunately for Berube, the team did not show up for this game and the Maple Leafs suffered their first bad loss of the season.
St. Louis Blues
There were two things on the minds of the Maple Leafs and their fans heading into Thursday’s game against St. Louis: One, a home game against the team that fired Craig Berube; and two, proving that the last game against the Blue Jackets was an outlier and get back to playing the brand of hockey that was seen in the previous six games.
In other words, what made this game significant was that it was a game of high emotional value, which the Maple Leafs would usually perform very poorly in these types of games; for example, John Tavares’ return to Long Island after signing with the Maple Leafs, a game where the team let Tavares down. Either way, this game was significant for Berube.
The game started off promising with the Maple Leafs playing with more urgency to start the game, and the defence playing with its usual aggressiveness and hard-hitting style. However, this did not last long and we saw the Maple Leafs resort back to previous playstyles: perimeter play, afraid to attack the middle of the offensive zone, and overpassing the puck. This lasted until partway through the second period, when Ekman-Larsson, scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf making the game 2–1. The Blues scored over a minute later making it 3–1 after 40 minutes.
There was a lot more to like in this game than the Blue Jackets’ game. As the game went on, the Maple Leafs were engaging in their relentless forechecking game, got more pucks to the next, and drove the net a lot more. However, what killed them, and this has been an issue since the start of the season, is their power play, which went zero for four against the Blues. The Blues would go on to win 5–1 giving the Maple Leafs their second blowout loss in a row.
Some fans would say Joesph Woll was to blame. Woll made his season debut against the Blues and did let in a couple of goals that he would probably want back. However, he made several big saves—some on breakaways, and some two-on-ones to keep the Maple Leafs in the game. He provided the Maple Leafs an opportunity to win the game, and the Maple Leafs could not do it.
Berube did not hold back the punches either. Berube chewed out new Maple Leafs’ captain Auston Matthews in the third period for his poor defensive play that led to a few goals against. This is a rare occurrence of a star player being held accountable, as the previous regime had very little accountability for the star players outside of William Nylander. Notably, in the post-game presser said:
“Our whole team is getting a little cute. We just gotta play direct. We don’t need that kinda stuff.”
And it’s true. The Leafs have been overpassing, not playing efficiently, and look scared to attack the net, especially on the power play. The Maple Leafs had their work cut out for them heading into Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night against the Boston Bruins.
Boston Bruins
Going into Boston, there were some changes, notably, Eckman-Larsson was promoted to the top pairing with Morgan Rielly and Philippe Myers made his NHL debut replacing Connor Timmins. Rielly and Eckman-Larsson also swapped spots on their respective power play units. These changes would not be enough as the Leafs’ still looked like they did in the last two games: lacking confidence, perimeter play, and looking hesitant to make a play.
The Maple Leafs did not get a shot on goal until 9:43 of the first period. They also played the majority of the period in their own end. The second period looked a bit better where the Leafs were forechecking again, and plugging up the neutral zone more. However, as soon as the Leafs took the lead, the Bruins scored two goals within 36 seconds of each other to end the period with a 3–2 lead.
The Maple Leafs lacked urgency in the third period and were still outshot 10–6. Anthony Stolarz kept the Maple Leafs in this game with timely saves throughout. Marner with his second amazing pass of the night, this time to Matthews, who scored his fourth of the year to tie the game in the dying seconds of the third period.
In overtime, Matthews made an errant pass in his zone to no one. David Pastrňák collected the puck and worked with Brad Marchand to score the overtime winner and hand the Maple Leafs their third loss in a row.
As with the Blues’ game, there was more to like in this game than the game earlier in the week against the Blue Jackets. However, there is an obvious adjustment period going on between the way the Maple Leafs used to play for the last eight years and how Berube wants them to play the game.
Weekly star: Oliver Eckman-Larsson
The biggest start of this week is Eckman-Larsson. Over the week, Eckman-Larsson has been consistently physical by being aggressive at the blue line on the puck carrier and laying big hits. He has also broken up plays in the defensive zone, and perhaps more importantly, he has been excellent at moving the puck to the forwards and on the power play.
His offensive toolset has been a revelation, a rarity in recent years for the Maple Leafs’ blueline, and you can tell he can quarterback a power play, as he did with the Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers. He also scored his first goal as a Maple Leaf against St. Louis, one of the few bright spots in the game against the Blues. Eckman-Larsson has been an excellent signing so far and due to his excellent play, he was promoted to the top defence pairing with Morgan Rielly against the Bruins. Oddly, Eckman-Larsson and Rielly swapped power play units in the Bruin’s game, which is puzzling given the poor performance of the power play this season.
Biggest disappointments: John Tavares and the power play
We did a piece on John Tavares’ play this season, but it needs to be repeated. Tavares has looked slow, has made bad shot selections, and has given the puck away a lot, especially on the power play. It has been reported that Tavares is battling through an illness and has lost eight pounds. If this is the case, then why does he remain on the top power play unit? Why not swap him for Domi on power play unit two?
On the power play, the Maple Leafs are three for 30 on the power play this year. Going back to the end of last February, the power play is 13 for 124. Normally the Maple Leafs’ power play is red hot until March, after which when the games become more “playoff style,” the power play drops off of a cliff and the decline continues throughout the playoffs. However, it is very concerning that the power play has been this bad to start the year.
And herein lies the crux of the problem: despite changing the power play coach year after year, the top power play unit has had the same personnel, while the second power play unit contains a group of castaways. While Eckman-Larsson and Rielly swapped units recently (and back again for the game against Boston), it is not enough change after a near decade. It is baffling why the power play units remain largely the same.
Going forward
They say old habits die hard and it appears that the Maple Leafs are seemingly at the crossroads of their new identity. Going from a “rope-and-dope” style that we have seen in previous regimes to playing more of an old-school, traditional “Western Conference” type of game will take time to adjust. Nevertheless, there are some encouraging signs this past week and the air in the locker room appears to be different. Either way, onto the next week!
