Auston Matthews and William Nylander returned to action last night but it wasn’t enough as the Toronto Maple Leafs lost 3-2 in OT to the Vancouver Canucks.
The Toronto Maple Leafs did a lot of good things in the contest and dominated for stretches, but several costly turnovers and a couple of shots that Campbell would like to have back basically cost the Leafs the game.
This has been a trend lately as the Leafs are costing themselves points by making pivotal mistakes at key times in the game. Everybody wants to talk about the powerplay, as I will in this article, but I would argue that turnovers and goaltending have really been the two issues that is costing the this team points right now.
In saying that, let’s give the Canucks some credit for this. It was their first game back from a Covid layoff that last saw them play a game on March 24th. They had a depleted lineup, but seemed to find energy from some mysterious magical fountain in their dressing room, and rode a tremendous performance by Braden Holtby to get the win.
It really was a remarkable effort by the bad guys here and they capitalized on that momentum. They looked like they won the Cup at the end of the game. It meant a lot to that team and I can live with that.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Powerplay
Auston Matthews and William Nylander both returned to the lineup tonight and played well in the game. Matthews scored a PP goal tonight and Nylander gave the PP some much needed life with his puck carrying and passing abilities.
Tavares was used in the high slot a few times for tips and the Leafs have not been doing this lately. This is a nice change because he’s open for this and it creates havoc at the net. Havoc at the net is good.
Another positive was that the Leafs did not use the drop-back pass exclusively, and seemed to mix up their zone entry strategies. You absolutely need to mix up zone entry schemes. The Leafs did this last night during the 5 minute major with positive results.
The pace of the PP picked up substantially. Quicker passes. Quicker reads. More aggressive decision making. All very positive things to see as the PP looked better than it has in a very long time. I think they are finally working their way out of this horrendous slump. The goal they scored was only the 2nd goal in 45 PP attempts. Baby steps here. I saw some good stuff.
Losing Zach Hyman Hurts
The Leafs lost Zach Hyman in the second period of last night’s game due to a dangerous hit attempt by Alex Edler. There was definite knee on knee contact during the play, and Edler received a 5 minute major and a game misconduct. The league will review the play today. There is no update at the time of writing this as to Hyman’s injury status. Hopefully he is ok.
Here is a look at the collision.
https://twitter.com/HeresYourReplay/status/1383940022437507077?s=20
It’s very clearly a dangerous hit, but I don’t think it looks intentional. Edler does stick out his leg a little bit prior to the contact, but that is also something that is necessary to maintain balance when you hit somebody. It doesn’t look like he sticks his leg out enough to be considered an intentional knee on knee hit. Hyman dodges at the last second as Edler begins to lean with his right shoulder. This looks like a hockey play gone bad to me. The game is rough. I will be surprised if Edler gets a suspension here.
Keefe was clearly frustrated when he was questioned about the Edler hit during his post game:
"“I have my opinion. It doesn’t matter.”"
Notes from the game
The defensive pairs were switched up about half-way into the game last night. Brodie was paired with Muzzin, and Holl was paired with Rielly. They seemed to work just fine and didn’t look out of sorts. Apparently they practiced these pairs a little bit this week and Keefe just wanted to get different guys used to playing with each other. Normally injuries do this, but the Toronto Maple Leafs blue line has been healthy this year, so this is something the coaches wanted to do before the regular season ends.
The “old guy” line looked really good last night and were very effective in the offensive zone. I’ve heard other names for this line but hey don’t seem to fit. They’re not grumpy and I don’t think Spezza has grey hair, so I’m really not sure what to call these guys. For now, I’ll just call them a good 4th line, as they completely dominated shot attempts while they were on the ice.
To add to that, this was the best I have seen both Thornton and Simmonds play since returning from injuries. Both have struggled mightily in recent games, and both looked much better last night.
Tomorrow night is revenge time. Give Rittich a start and go get two points.
Go Leafs!