Fansided

Toronto Maple Leafs Takeaways: Signs Of Improvement

By Luke Ryan |

1. 116. Final. 2. 92

The final result in Pittsburgh seems a little unfair on a Toronto Maple Leafs side, which dominated for large portions of at least the first two periods. To leave a game that saw a power play unit anchored by Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin, only having conceded two should be seen as a solid result.

As with last time out, systems are starting to gel. Players are starting to build chemistry. Most importantly, the coach has firmly taken his spot on the bench and it shows:

Faceoff Winning Percentage

This was one area of the Maple Leafs’ game that was expected to suffer following the injury to Tyler Bozak, reported on the team’s Twitter feed midway through the Columbus game:

With the center out injured following two 70+% games, it wasn’t hard to envision the team performing worse on face-offs.

However, this didn’t seem to pose an issue; the team managing to secure a 56% overall winning percentage, off the puck drop. The team did incredibly well across the board, with Nick Spaling and Peter Holland stepping up especially well with 60% games.

Last year’s team was only successful off the draw 49% of the time, across the whole season. Whilst its early days, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a face-off winning percentage of 54.6% this season – a marked improvement.

Whether this is due to the player’s picking up their game, the coaching staff working hard on this element of their game or a combination of both, it’s proving valuable as an element of the new playing style.

The ability to move the puck from the face-off directly into middle ice or the offensive zone is allowing the team to start looking much more comfortable in possession. It’s hard to remember the team looking as cohesive as it currently is, last season.

As noted, given Bozak being placed on injured reserve, this is an unexpected positive to come out of the loss to the Penguins.

More from Editor In Leaf

Well-Matched Lines

It’s quite clear why Mike Babcock commanded such a fee from the Toronto Maple Leafs. The simple things are being done well; matching of lines being one of these.

Against Pittsburgh, he managed to utilize the defensive pairings to their maximum ability pairing them well against the high-powered, offensive Penguins lines.

Instead of the 23:43 average ice time that Dion Phaneuf saw last season, he’s seeing at least 2 minutes less per game average. This is proving to be a masterstroke, as the Toronto Maple Leafs captain is playing like a man under a lot less pressure.

Morgan Rielly and Matt Hunwick found themselves leading the defensive lines against Kessel and Crosby; though Babcock seems to prefer two very strong lines as opposed to a clear number one. Equally, Jake Gardiner and Phaneuf quieted, for the most part, Patrick Hornqvist and Malkin.

The only negative to be drawn from a defensive standpoint was the first goal; Mark Arcobello was left to mark the oncoming player, the defence having pushed into the middle following a face-off loss. If this was a defenceman as opposed to a forward doing the marking, the end result may have been different.

Likewise, the defense allowed this to cause a lapse in concentration, conceding a second on the next shot. This forced Babcock to use his time-out, but again, this was just proof of his tactical nous as it completely shifted the games’ momentum.

Intensity Forcing Errors

This year has seen Toronto playing high-intensity hockey; this trend continued. On several occasions, they forced the Penguins into turning the puck over.

These giveaways and turnovers seemed to happen a lot to the Crosby line, something that was almost unheard of in previous years. This is possibly the biggest sign of a Maple Leafs improvement in recent months.

The intense approach was replicated on the penalty kill, Spaling and Daniel Winnik leading the line with strong, pressing hockey keeping the Penguins at bay with a 0-5 outcome off the power play.

Even more impressive was a 70% winning percentage on short-handed face-offs.

The intense approach extends across the whole team though, with no one individual deserving more praise than the other. This season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are actually a team.

Oct 17, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center

Leo Komarov

(47) and Pittsburgh Penguins left wing

Chris Kunitz

(14) fight for the puck during the first period at the CONSOL Energy Center. The Penguins won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

With this said, Leo Komarov has upped his intensity with his third goal in two games coming against Pittsburgh. Given the concerns about the loss of scoring this year, the Estonian native has certainly picked up his game.

Granted, they’ve shown great character in most of those games to launch some degree of comeback, whether successful or not, but the issue remains of going behind first.

Leafs’ goaltender, Jonathan Bernier, who to his credit, couldn’t be faulted following the drop of two goals from four shots, was philosophical about the team’s performance.

He pointed out that they played hard, but ultimately couldn’t put the game to bed:

“I have confidence in this group that we can come back and we played hard. I thought we deserved a better result.” (MapleLeafs.NHL.com)

For the Toronto Maple Leafs coaching team, this performance had almost everything they desire from their playing group. Everything that is, except another 1 in the W column!

Early signs, as I keep saying, suggest the players are buying into the new coaching methods, and it is already showing.

With another road game scheduled on Wednesday night in Buffalo, the hope is that the Maple Leafs continues this early season form, albeit with a better end result.

Next: Unappreciated Rival Acquisitions?

More from Editor In Leaf

Home / Editorials