Toronto Maple Leafs: Andersen Channels Toskala in Loss
By James Tanner
The Toronto Maple Leafs lost last night to the New Jersey Devils.
The problem was that they should have won. Had it not been for a rough night (and start to the season) for goalie Frederik Andersen, the Toronto Maple Leafs would have won easily and be off to a 4-0 start.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. Now, first off – the Leafs defense is not that good. I think every sane person understands that while he may not be a disaster, a Cup Contending team should not have Ron Hainsey in their top four. (And save me the Penguins stuff, he wasn’t in their top-four on purpose, he was their fourth most used dman, and they had no business beating Washington). Nor should they have two raw rookies as a pairing on the bottom line. (As good as they’ve been, with a Cup in their sites, they could possibly do better). Nor should they have their second best defensive forward in the minors. The Leafs do. But since they can put up 50 shots in a game, routinely it seems, it’s not that big of a deal – if they get even half-way decent goaltending.
But last night, they did not get any. Had Frederik Andersen even been half of his normal self last night, the Leafs win easily. And even still, even with a bad night from Mr. Andersen, the Leafs only lost because Schneider played insane. They put up 50 shots and controlled play to the point of domination.
Not a Big Deal
The Toronto Maple Leafs – despite their defense – are arguably the best team in the NHL. Their defense can move the puck, their overall team speed is unbelievable and they are so deep offensively that they can, and will, on most nights, overcome their faults.
In fact, the very idea that their faults are so obvious, and that they clearly have the cap-space and assets to address them, should give every other team in the NHL pause. It should make them very nervous, because the best team in hockey can easily get better.
Oh, by the way, I am now referring to the Leafs as the NHL’s best team. No team is faster, no team is deeper, no team can move the puck like they do, and no team’s second power play unit features Auston Matthews or anyone half as good.
If you think there is a better team than the Leafs, you need to put down the crack pipe my friend. Blackhawks? They were just crushed by the Leafs, and they have a seriously gutted roster compared to their former glory. The Penguins? They can barely match the Leafs blue line and the Leafs are so much deeper up front that it’s not even arguable. Capitals? Lost about half their WAR over the summer.
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The only legitimate argument about who the best team in the NHL is involves the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Leafs offer more speed and forward depth, but the Jackets have the world’s best goalie and a defense that should make the Leafs jealous.
Back to Last Night
No matter how bad the defense is in front of a goalie, a sub .900 save percentage is still bad. Andersen was everything Leafs fans erroneously think about Martin Marincin last night.
At 5v5 the Leafs controlled 61.25% of the play. If you don’t know much about shot-attempt statistics, that is severe domination. They outchanced the Devils at 5v5 33-21.
Even despite Andersen’s performance, the Toronto Maple Leafs still had to run into an extremely hot goalie to lose. Think about that.
Of note: as much as I noticed people wanting to jump on Borgman and Rosen, those dudes had a 58% corsi at 5v5, and were very effective.
Yes, almost each goal was because of a glaring error, but those happen. The goalie’s got to bail the team out. The predominant theme surrounding last night’s game on Twitter was that the Leafs defense was bad. It wasn’t really the problem, however. If you get six out of every ten shot attempts, you’re going to win most of your games.
Next: Assessing William Nylander's Value
The Toronto Maple Leafs are an insane team. The next person who says they are still rebuilding needs to be banned from the ACC forever. The team is here. They are the best team in the NHL. They are the 3-1 to start the year.
They should probably be 4-0.
stats from naturalstattrick.com