Toronto Maple Leafs: Taking the L in Beantown
By Hunter Eitel
Safe to say Saturday night couldn’t have been much worse for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Despite putting up 41 shots, the Toronto Maple Leafs were stuffed on a majority of their scoring chances and dropped a 5-1 result to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Saturday night. It’s the Maple Leafs’ first loss on the road this season and snaps a three game winning streak.
You can’t be too mad about this one. The leafs controlled 65% of the shot-attempts in the first period and just couldn’t score. Not to mention, with Andersen backing up Sparks, the Leafs were without three of their best players for this game (Matthews and Nylander also missing).
In a critical early season Atlantic Division matchup, the Leafs met the stone wall known as Jaroslav Halak and Garrett Sparks was left wide open against the 34 shots from the Bruins. The power play was once again stifled and the penalty kill folded against the dangerous Bruins power play unit.
But honestly folks, chalk this one up to the “back-to-back” curse. As nice as it would’ve been for the Leafs to win on Friday and Saturday, they were able to take one win out of two. This game was just a bump in the road, and while analyzing it is always good, these type of games will always happen.
What Is Up With The Power Play?!
It’s time we file a report that the Maple Leafs’ Power Play is missing. They were last seen the night Auston Matthews went down with his shoulder injury. I know special teams is becoming a regular talking point in these recaps, but going zero for three against the Bruins and only two power play goals in their last five games (On 16 opportunities) is a problem.
It’s been mentioned in the past that the Maple Leafs have been passing the puck a little too much in the offensive zone, especially on the man advantage. It appears when they have the extra space on the ice, the Leafs try to set up a perfect “tic-tac-toe” passing play instead of just taking the shot. This is something a lot of teams try to do, but when the Leafs do it with the players they have at their disposal on the man advantage it’s just frustrating.
Elsewhere in Toronto Maple Leafs Land
John Tavares scored his tenth goal of the season, tying Matthews for the Leafs’ lead in goal scoring.
With his assist last night, Mitch Marner reached 150 points in his career, achieving the feat in 176 games. He now has 20 points in 17 games this year, compared to last year when he had nine points in as many games.
Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly were the Leafs ice time leaders against the Bruins with 22:37 minutes and 21:56 minutes, respectively.
Morgan Rielly is now second among defenseman with 21 points, one point behind Thomas Chabot of the Ottawa Senators.
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The Toronto Maple Leafs remained in second place in the Atlantic Division despite the loss. They are three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for first and one point ahead of the Montréal Canadiens for third.
The road awaits the Toronto Maple Leafs as they begin a three game California road trip on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center.