As the Toronto Maple Leafs collected their first point of the year, albeit as a result of a shoot-out loss, it’s hard to be too negative.
The team is still obviously in a state of flux with Mike Babcock mixing up the lines both defensively and offensively again. However, their showing tonight proved there is a little light at the end of the tunnel.
The biggest key was the fact that heads didn’t drop even when they went down 3-0 in the second period. This, in fact, galvanised the Maple Leafs to play even harder, determinably seeking to get a result in front of their home fans at the Air Canada Centre.
Here are my three key takeaways from last night’s shoot-out loss to Ottawa:
Early Pressure At Home
On the road to Detroit, it was non-existent, but in both tonight’s game against Ottawa and Wednesday’s game against Montreal; the Maple Leafs have come out onto home ice and put on great displays of early pressure.
In what seems to be a calculated approach of stamping a physical mark on the game early on, as well as showing off their speed out of the blocks, Toronto have nearly paid it off on both home nights with countless shots on net before the other team even has one.
Against Ottawa, it took almost three and a half minutes before the opposition could muster a shot on James Reimer. Thankfully, he killed the streak of the Toronto Maple Leafs conceding the first shot of both previous games this season.
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Unfortunately, despite the high shot count, the Leafs were unable to pay off their pressure with a goal, but it certainly looks good on them if they can maintain such fire.
Penalty Killing Woes?
With three of Ottawa’s four goals coming on the power-play, it’s clear that there may be a problem. That problem could be that Ottawa has a very strong power-play unit, in which case the Maple Leafs can’t do too much about it. However, that problem could just as equally be that Toronto isn’t doing enough to successfully kill penalties.
On this night, I’m going to give it to Ottawa; their power-play line containing Kyle Turris and Erik Karlsson is a force to be reckoned with. The big positive, outside of the first three power-plays was that the team turned it around and ensured the Senators couldn’t score on their other three power-plays.
Maybe the penalty killing units needed to face the adversity of dropping a series of goals?
Maybe that was what sparked them to life and we’ll see an improved penalty kill leading out of tonight’s game. Fingers crossed.
Winning The Face-Off
With the new ruling on offensive face-offs, it may seem a little easier for an offensive face off win, but fact is you still need to go out there and win them.
The one player that particularly impressed me tonight with his face-off wins was Tyler Bozak. His face-off winning percentage of 73% for the game was the best on the ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Having a player like Bozak ensuring the team gets the drop almost every time is going to be key to generating chances this year. No longer does the team have the ability to rely on speedy breakaways; they’re not the fastest group, but if they can rely on a guaranteed puck of the face-off, it could be a difference maker.
All in all, coming off a demoralising 4-0 road trip loss in Detroit, I was impressed by the strength of character shown. The players didn’t allow themselves to drop their heads even when they trailed 3-0.
A bit of luck with the puck in front of net wouldn’t have gone astray, neither would a little shoot-out luck, but as I said after the first home game, the Maple Leafs on-ice performance isn’t looking completely awful.