Toronto Maple Leafs: Three Takeaways From Loss To Sharks
After leading 2-0 after two periods. The Toronto Maple Leafs let another third period slip away as they fell 3-2 in the shootout to the San Jose Sharks.
It has become a recurring theme for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season. They cannot seem to close the door on opponents as they continue to play with fire.
This time while young, should now know the importance of putting away a team especially when they are outplaying them. Through two periods it turned into the Auston Matthews and William Nylander show. They were magicians with the puck.
"William Nylander is lazy.” - People
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) December 14, 2016
William Nylander: *hunts puck to keep possession three times in a shift*
However, they only were able to muster two goals and had one taken away due to goalie interference. With Martin Jones keeping them in the game, the Sharks took advantage of Maple Leafs mishaps on defense to tie the game and eventually win it in the shootout.
Here are the three takeaways from their loss to the Sharks:
Hyman shows his toughness
It’s no secret that Mike Babcock gushes over the work ethic and toughness that Hyman brings to the team. His motor and ability to head into the dirty areas are reasons as for why he plays with Matthews and Nylander.
Furthermore, his toughness would shine versus the Sharks. During the first period Hyman went down to block a shot from Brent Burns, but it resulted in him taking a slap shot off his leg which leads to him exiting the game.
However, that minor injury did not keep Hyman out too long. After exiting for a few minutes, he returned and subsequently did his very best Paul Kariya impersonation as his redirection opened up the scoring for the Maple Leafs.
The two period showed the warrior status of Hyman. From having to key blocked shots, a goal, and coming close to scoring a short-handed goal. Also, it should be noted that continues to make up for his skill deficiencies with hard work and grit.
Nylander-Matthews appreciation
These two are appreciated on a nightly basis, but their elite skill was on display against the Sharks. After some time away from each other, Babcock has reunited Nylander and Matthews. Even though they spent some time apart, their chemistry did not suffer as they have not missed a beat.
Their elite skill would be on display versus the Western Conference Champions. For the first goal of the game, they kept the puck away from the Sharks until Matthews saw and opportunity and fired it to the net which resulted in a Hyman deflection.
Isolated look at the Hyman goal: Auston Matthews and William Nylander trading the puck like Jay Z and Kanye trading verses pic.twitter.com/Z3mlafj2f1
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) December 14, 2016
Nylander has suffered the wrath of Babcock due to his defensive play. Nevertheless, he made an excellent defensive play as he fought for and stripped the puck away from Justin Braun. The 20-year-old might not be a Selke type forward, but he definitely understands that his defensive game did need to improve in order to avoid the fourth line.
As for Matthews, he got into the action by scoring his 13th goal of the season by going five-hole from a tough angle to beat Martin Jones. For those keeping track, that puts Matthews on a 38 goal pace, not bad for a 19-year-old.
Hunwick strikes again
By now Hunwick has lost all the trust of Maple Leaf fans due to his lackluster defensive play. Add in Roman Polak being his partner and they’re just a lightning rod.
Nonetheless, seeing him play huge minutes has become nauseating and as a result, it lead to the Sharks scoring two unanswered goals to tie the game.
In the first Sharks goal, Polak could not deflect nor poke away the puck from Braun. As a result, Braun would score bar-down on the backhand shot to cut the lead in half.
For the tying goal, Hunwick took a questionable interference penalty which leads to Sharks equalizer. Furthermore, Hunwick finished third in TOI behind Morgan Reilly and Jake Gardiner. Adding gasoline to the frustration that fans already feel with his play.