Toronto Maple Leafs Takeaways: Babcock Returns To Detroit

116. Final. 4. 72. 0

If anything has been learned from opening night and Friday night in Detroit, it’s that chance isn’t going to happen overnight. The Toronto Maple Leafs management team knew this when they brought Mike Babcock in this summer, and now that arguably the most anticipated game of the early season has been and gone, it’s time to re-focus.

Here are my three key takeaways from Babcock’s none too happy homecoming to Detroit:

Defend, Defend, Defend

They say the key to a good offense is a good defense; this is something the Maple Leafs blue-liners really need to work on in light of their 4-0 loss to the Red Wings. Too many times, players were out of position, slack in possession or plain and simply outplayed by their opponents.

It’s hard to single out one player when at least Morgan Rielly, Matt Hunwick and Scott Harrington could be found guilty of giving up the puck all too easily. Too often, their primary focus was on offense and building a play; granted, this is something we need but it needs to pay off otherwise you’re leaving the door open for odd-man rushes.

This was exactly the scenario that led to at least one of the Detroit goals; for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they need to ensure this slackness in the neutral zone doesn’t become a regular feature in their play. It needs to be stamped out early, whether by means of defensemen remaining more defensively-focused or through a little more chemistry between the players.

Neither option would appear that coach-able, it’s going to be purely up to the players to get used to it. Time will tell whether this is going to take more than just a couple of weeks.

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Where Are The Goals?

The goal struggle is back and back with a vengeance. Whilst both games thus far this year have seen plenty of shots fired at the opposing teams’ net; too often, there are bodies or indeed, goalies in the way.

Phil Kessel was an undeniable talent at finding the tiniest gap in a goalies’ armour and taking advantage of it. Without him, the attack is looking incredibly blunt – there is no killer instinct in front of the net right now.

With at least one of the Red Wings goals, it was the result of shielding the goalie and ensuring someone was well-placed to slot a rebound.

Hockey 101.

The Toronto Maple Leafs need to have this sort of back-to-basics approach, at least at the moment – too often shots would bounce out in front with nobody picking them up and having another go.

With the focus on Nazem Kadri as a center this year, he should be one of the men sitting there awaiting these chances. Instead, he had a largely quiet and ineffective night. The hope is that he can pick it up, maybe he just needs a goal to plant the seeds of confidence.

Confidence In Your Goaltender

I spoke of Bernier’s concentration lapses in my takeaways from opening night and how it seemed he had turned a corner as the game wore on.

Unfortunately for him, he finds himself being talked about once again as he was pulled from the ice in the second period after leaking 3 goals from 9 shots. That sort of ratio doesn’t look good in anyone’s book, not even mentioning the fact that he conceded the first shot of both periods he was on the ice.

Once more, I’m hoping Jonathan Bernier can pick up his head and bounce back. The expectation is that James Reimer will be starting against Ottawa on Saturday night, and maybe the bench time will allow Bernier a chance to hit reset on this season start.

Otherwise, I’m afraid we have a very long year ahead, with little bite in attack and a very leaky defense and net; the goals for and against columns may look quite ugly come the end of the year.

We’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the season isn’t going to be comfortable – pain is expected – but a 4-0 loss in the first road game of the year doesn’t fill anyone with confidence. This pain may well get a lot worse before it gets better…

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