2 big takeaways from Maple Leafs' discouraging 4-1 loss to Islanders

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost 4-1 to the New York Islanders at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Saturday night. Colton Sissons was the lone goal scorer for the home side, while Sergei Bobrovsky stopped just 16 of 19 shots.

Auston Matthews and William Nylander were held to one shot apiece, Gavin McKenna had four shots in 17:56 of ice time, and Jack Roslovic and Kirill Marchenko each had five shots of their own.

The Maple Leafs have dropped five out their last six and are now 2-3-1 on home ice.

Maple Leafs can't afford to be passive offensively

Prior to Saturday, the Leafs had scored at least three goals in five straight games, and at least four in three of those. In some ways, I suppose they were due for an offensive dud, and it came against the Islanders.

Toronto had 29 shots, which is just fine, but it's who those shots came from that is concerning. Marchenko, McKenna, and Roslovic had 14, and their defense was responsible for six. That means that the other nine forwards had just nine shots between them. That includes two between Matthews and Nylander.

"They did a good job of keeping us on the outside, and I think we passed up on a lot of shots, " Matthews said after the game. "Made it a little bit easier on them. They played hard, but I thought (we were) a little bit too much on the perimeter. We could have done a better job of generating more shots on the net.

"It's a mindset, maybe. Just one extra pass. Sometimes the best play is just to shoot the puck on the net and see what happens."

That was exemplified on both of their power plays in the third period, where they over-passed and gave up four or five quality chances.

"Get inside and throw some pucks there," head coach Jim Hiller said. "They played a good game, it didn't surprise us at all. In a game like that, with Sorokin in goal and some big strong defensemen, you have got to get inside and you've got to get some pucks around there and try to create some chaos. We did it two or three times, one was a goal, one was a really good chance on a deflection from Darren Raddysh, and after that we just didn't do it. We just didn't do it enough. You are not going to score on the perimeter with this team."

The fact is, right now, that the Leafs are not built to win 2-1 or 3-2 hockey games. They are going to get scored on, and their defence is going to be leaky. Sure, that puts a lot of pressure on their offense to put up at least three or four a night, but that's the situation that they are in.

"We need urgency," Matthews added. "We've got to be better in all areas, starting with myself."

Should we be worried about Sergei Bobrovsky?

If the Maple Leafs want to be taken seriously, they need to add another defenceman. We all know that. If you don't know, now you do. Welcome to the pessimistic side of the Leafs fandom.

So, until they do, it is hard for me personally to be hard or negative on Bobrovsky. He has single-handedly kept them in multiple games already this season, even if he gave up three or more goals in the process. On that note, Bob is now the first Maple Leafs goalie since Vesa Toskala in 2009 to give up three-plus goals in each of his first six games of a season.

"I tried to give my best," Bobrovsky said. "I stay patient and I prepare myself for the next shot. Obviously you could think what if this, what if that, but it is what it is. I'm confident, I feel good about my game and I'm excited for the next opportunity."

Listen, this was easily his worst performance, and when you marry that to a dried-up offense, Saturday night is what we can expect. I still believe in Bob, and I still think he and Anthony Stolarz can be one of the top duos in the league, but something has to change in front of them.

However, with all of the changes John Chayka and company have made to the forward group, this current D-core does not put Bobrovsky in a position to succeed. Does that mean we can accept bad goals and three-plus goals a night? No, not necessarily, but we shouldn't be surprised, either.

Up next for the Maple Leafs

The Maple Leafs host Macklin Celebrini and the San Jose Sharks on Monday night before heading to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets on Tuesday.

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