The Toronto Maple Leafs were coming off two straight losses and aimed to avoid losing three straight in regulation for the first time this season last night. The Leafs have generally played poorly for the last five games, not to their usual standards.
Toronto received a boost with Max Domi being activated off injured reserve, sending Nikita Grebenkin down to the Toronto Marlies and playing on the third line with Fraser Minten and Steven Lorentz. Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs defence corps, Jake McCabe was still out of the lineup and listed as “day-to-day”, despite being out for ten days.
Let’s take a look at the storylines coming out of the game against the New Jersey Devils.
The Maple Leafs are having a mid-life crisis
Yes, the Maple Leafs won in overtime with a goal from captain Auston Matthews. Yes, it’s nice to see a Maple Leafs star come in clutch in a high-pressure moment. However, the overall effort through three periods by the Maple Leafs was nowhere near the identity that the Maple Leafs have established all year.
Against the Devils, the Maple Leafs got one shot in the first period, being outshot 16–1. By the end of the game, the Maple Leafs were outshot 38–14, their lowest shot total of the season, and if it wasn’t for Anthony Stolarz, the team would have lost in regulation. The Maple Leafs consistently gave the puck away, were weak in their own end, and were abysmal on the power play.
The Maple Leafs power play seemed like it was picking up over the last three games, going two for eight, a small bright spot over this time. In last night’s game, the man advantage generated zero shots.
As we’ve seen a lot this year, the Maple Leafs could not gain the zone, apply any offensive pressure or build momentum. You know it’s bad when the Devils got better chances (and shots) during the power plays.
The Maple Leafs are clearly fighting old habits and are perhaps at the precipice of adopting a style of play that will hopefully breed more success come playoffs than years past. But these last five games, and in particular, last night’s game give us flashbacks to years past.
Build a statue for Anthony Stolarz
Okay, it is way too early to build a statue of Anthony Stolarz, but he stole the game for the Leafs. There are so many highlights to choose from, but I think this stop on a Nico Hischier short-handed breakaway sums up Stolarz’s night:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1866654718266642498
Stolarz was absolutely the best Maple Leaf on the ice, stopping 37 shots, and finishing with a .974 SV%. The amount of Grade-A scoring chances Stolarz had to stop made this his best game performance as a Maple Leaf, on a night where the team largely took the game off. This included a number of key saves on the Devils’ four power plays and several short-handed chances on the Maple Leafs power plays.
The one thing that has been consistent all year is the Maple Leafs’ goaltending. Stolarz and Joseph Woll sit third and fourth in GAA with 2.22 and 2.20 respectively, and third and fifth in save percentage with .924 and .919. If the Maple Leafs want to go deep into the playoffs, the goaltending appears to be up to the task.
The Leafs Leaf’d the Devils
As a Maple Leafs fan, how many times have we seen this before: the team grossly outplays their opponent all game. A miscommunication on the top-ranked power play leads to a short-handed chance the other way, and an unknown third-line player that hasn’t scored in eight games and only has one goal on the season scores a goal in which your goalie should have likely stopped in an otherwise tidy performance. Then, they lose the game in overtime against the opposing team’s captain who was largely shutdown and snake-bitten all night.
This is exactly what happened to the Devils last night. The Maple Leafs Leaf’d New Jersey.
Pontus Holmberg ended a six-goal streak from the Maple Leafs’ top players, and finally, the Maple Leafs got secondary scoring, which they have needed for a large part of the season.
While the goal was a weak goal against Jacob Markström, Holmberg is probably the happiest Maple Leaf right now as he only had one goal on the season coming into the game and could potentially lose his job as players continue to return to the lineup.
Matthews had several breakaway chances all night, but could not bury the puck in the net. However, the Maple Leafs captain came in clutch in overtime, finally scoring on a breakaway with a beautiful goal in tight:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1866674759192416705
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The Maple Leafs avoided losing three straight games in regulation, which is a testament to how well the Maple Leafs have played this year.
Toronto continues their busy December with their next game against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, where the Maple Leafs hope to get back to playing the style we have seen for a large part of the year.
