Toronto Maple Leafs: First Period Defensive Issues
By Josh Tessler
The Toronto Maple Leafs‘ kryptonite this year continues to be their elite defensive play.
Sorry for the sarcasm. But if you think the Toronto Maple Leafs’ defense has been solid as of late, you might want to complain to your cable provider that you are getting Winnipeg Jets games on local television and not the Leafs.
Look at some of the previous Leaf games and you’ll see a growing trend.
As of late, the Leafs have had terrible defensive play in the first period of play.
In last night’s matchup against the Florida Panthers, the Leafs were out-shot 15 to 7 in the first period. In the game against the Arizona Coyotes, the boys from the desert out-shot the Toronto maple Leafs 10 to 8. On Saturday night in La Belle Provence, the Montreal Canadiens out-shot the Leafs 16 to 7.
I could go on and on. But, as you can see this is a common occurrence.
Personally, I think the Leafs defense isn’t aggressive enough. The defensive core is slow and lethargic. They are hoping that their opponents will magically lose the puck from their possession and that the puck will wander out of the Leafs’ zone.
Upcoming Matchups
If the Toronto Maple Leafs defense doesn’t become more disruptive, the next stretch of games will be a long and painful one.
In the next two and half weeks, the Leafs battle against the Edmonton Oilers twice, the Calgary Flames twice, the Vancouver Canucks, the Pittsburgh Penguins on the road, the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes.
If the Leafs expect to walk away from the next few matchups with some wins in their back pocket, the defensive play needs to shape up. If the Leafs don’t focus on improving their defense, they can expect to be dominated.
Defensive Analysis
Let’s do some defensive analysis of a couple of the last few games.
In particular, I would like to look at the games against the Canadiens and the Coyotes.
First, I’ll take a look at some sloppy defensive play against the Canadiens.
Please press play on the video and watch the first minute of content. In that first minute, you’ll see the Leafs defensemen play atrocious hockey.
Hainsey & Reilly Not Aggressive Enough
At approximately the 0:28 mark, Max Pacioretty and Jonathan Drouin deliver quick passes to each other and out-skate Ron Hainsey.
In that portion of the video, Hainsey simply isn’t aggressive. He lets Pacioretty and Drouin out-play him and his thought process at that moment is just to waive his stick out. Hainsey hoped for that the puck would magically hit his stick. He needs to be more alert and focused on the puck. Hainsey should have been more physical instead of being his sluggish self.
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Now, let’s fast forward to the 0:47 mark. At this point in the first period, Drouin is skating around the blue line carrying the puck from the left side of the ice to the right side. Morgan Rielly is following him, but doesn’t attempt to make a strong poke check to grab the puck and get out of the Leafs’ zone. Instead, Reilly waves out his stick in a weak attempt to make contact with Drouin. Ultimately this poke check attempt by Reilly isn’t successful as Drouin is able to fire a wrist shot on Frederik Andersen.
Dominic Moore’s Troubles on the Penalty Kill
Now, let’s take a look at some content from the Leafs and Coyotes matchup.
If you jump ahead to the 1:15 mark, you’ll see Oliver Ekman-Larsson fire a shot on net from the point on a Coyotes power-play. Unfortunately, the Leafs are relying on Dominic Moore to provide combative defense and it’s clear that Moore forgot his morning cup of joe. Moore just glides over to Ekman-Larsson with his stick out as he hopes that the puck will ricochete off of his stick.
Painfully, the woes continue for the Leafs’ penalty kill later on in the power-play at 1:25 mark.
Again, Moore fails to provide adequate defense.
At this point in the power-play, Derek Stepan fires a pass to Brendan Perlini. Moore and his partner in crime, Hainsey leave Perlini wide open which allows Perlini to grab the puck and scores a goal top-shelf on Andersen.
Recap
If Moore, Reilly, Hainsey and the rest of the Leafs aren’t more aggressive than there will be a lot of sleepless nights for the Leaf squad.
Stars like Conor McDavid and Sidney Crosby will damage the Toronto Maple Leafs chances of success in the next two and half weeks if the Leafs’ defense isn’t hungrier for the puck.
I hope that I’m not the only one that sees this and hope that Mike Babcock will bring this issue up to his players.