The Toronto Maple Leafs Play Their Worst Game, Still Shoulda Won

The Toronto Maple Leafs offense was awful last night against the Edmonton Oilers.

Now, I don’t know if they were just hyper-aware of the two big Oilers stars, or what, but the Leafs played the kind of boring, offense-free, conservative game I didn’t even know Sheldon Keefe was capable of allowing.

Now it wasn’t all bad, the Leafs did in fact shut-down McDavid and Draisaitl (at even-strength) and Andersen had a great game.  Specifically, Andersen got his glove on a sure goal late in the game that I originally thought just hit the crossbar, and which did give the Leafs a chance to tie it.

Andersen almost had – and deserved to have – a perfect night at 5v5, with the only puck beating him being a complete fluke off Jake Muzzin’s skate.  Add in the fake tripping penalty that was actually one Oilers player tripping another, and the fact is that Andersen should have, could have, deserved, his first shut-out of the season. (stats naturalstattrick.com).

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Oilers

What I find most impressive about this team so far, is that even when things have gone poorly (bad goaltending, no offense, idiotic officiating) they’ve still given themselves a chance to win. 

Last night, in one of the most boring games I’ve ever seen such an offensive oriented team play, the Leafs – by all rights – should have won the game one to nothing.  Now it didn’t go down that way, and who cares? It’s a long season and the fact is that in a single game anything can happen, and that is why we watch.

It’s not about “deserving” the win in a whiny sucky way, it’s about about knowing that the future is bright for teams that almost win their worst games.  It’s about knowing that if you can play one of your worst games, and still have to get screwed over by a bad call and a bad bounce to lose, that most of the time things are going to to go your way, all things considered.

I was expecting a full-throated offensive explosion last night, not just because it was Matthews vs McDavid, but because Matthews has been playing great but getting ice-cold results.  Like in the Columbus series, I don’t really care or get concerned about a lack of scoring – the things you’re good at take care of themselves.

Sure, it’s not fun to watch the team look so listless and to see almost nothing dynamic from so many talented players, but the games still did feature at least one William Nylander end-to-end solo rush, at least a few glimpses of what Morgan Rielly brings to the offensive table that almost no one else in the league can replicate, and at least two completely wide open Matthews scoring chances (one a slapshot, another a glove save from in tight) that are normally going to find the back of the net.

Oh and this was the first game of the year where I remembered why I like Ilya Mikheyev so much (the guy is a terror on the PK) and his whole line was really good for the first time this season.

You also have to like the fact that Matthews was hard matched with McDavid for 12 minutes 5v5 and came out with a 60% puck possession rating.

Overall, yes it was a terribly boring game, and yes the Leafs didn’t bring their normal dynamic offensive game, but it was still a game they should have won, and a game in which there were several nice developments.

Also, Justin Holl was once again, I thought, the Toronto Maple Leafs best defenseman. Really nice night for him.