Toronto Maple Leafs: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly After 2 Games
Another NHL regular season is underway for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The have played their first two games of the season on back-to-back nights.
The Toronto Maple Leafs played their home opener Wednesday against Montreal. They won that game and then headed to Ottawa to play the Senators in their home opener. Unfortunately, the Leafs were not victorious on back-to-back nights.
There have been some good things happening early on for Toronto, but there have also been some bad things and even a few ugly things happening. Hopefully head coach Sheldon Keefe and his coaching staff can find a way to keep the good, while fixing the bad and ugly things.
The good news for Keefe is that it’s still early into the season. As bad or ugly as some things have been, there is plenty of time to correct them. Hopefully some of those things can be corrected in time for when Toronto hosts Ottawa on Saturday night.
The hometown fans will not want to see a repeat of Thursday’s performance. They want to see the Maple Leafs go 2-0-0 at home to start the season. Toronto will have to do it without Auston Matthews as he is still not activated to play. This is hopefully the final and only remaining game that he misses this season.
The Good: Toronto Maple Leafs Forwards
Fortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs, there is a lot of good happening for the team right now. Even though it has only been two games, there is plenty to like about this team.
William Nylander has been a bright spot for the Leafs early on. He has two goals and one assist for three points in two games. The Toronto winger is averaging just over 20 minutes a game through two games. (Stats from: Hockey-Reference.com)
Some other Nylander stats to pay attention to are the fact that he has four takeaways and zero giveaways. He also has some impressive Corsi numbers to start the season. When Nylander is on the ice, Toronto is controlling the puck 64.5% of the time.
Another player who is opening some eyes in Toronto is Michael Bunting. Although he only has one assist so far, he is constantly battling for loose pucks in the dirty areas. The team is controlling the puck 60.4% of the time when Bunting is on the ice. He has also drawn two penalties which allows the team’s powerplay to get some opportunities.
Jason Spezza is another Toronto Maple Leafs forward who is off to a good start. Spezza has a goal and an assist for two points in two games. Spezza had 30 points in 54 games last season, so with two points already this season, the 38 year-old is showing no signs of slowing down.
Toronto Maple Leafs Golatending
The tandem of Jack Campbell and Petr Mrazek has been good despite the one loss. In Thursday’s 3-2 loss to Ottawa, two of the three goals were deflections that Mrazek really can’t be blamed for. He looked pretty good otherwise, stopping 23 of 26 shots in the loss.
Jack Campbell has been great so far as he looks to build off of last season. He won the first game of the season against Montreal and played the third period of Thursday’s game after Mrazek left with an injury. Campbell has stopped 41 of 42 shots against and has a 0.76 GAA along with a .976 SV%. He will get the start on Saturday in the rematch against Ottawa.
Toronto Maple Leafs Special Teams
The team’s powerplay (PP) and penalty kill (PK) are off to a good start. Toronto’s penalty kill has killed off seven of their eight penalties. Their PK percentage of 87.5% is the 8th best in the NHL. The powerplay has scored on three out of eight chances. that gives them a PP percentage of 37.5% which is currently 11th in the NHL.
The Bad: Slow Starts
Luckily for the Maple Leafs, there isn’t much that is wrong with the team. However there are some concerns early on. We do have to remember that it is still too early to panic, so all we can do is hope that these bad things get corrected sooner rather than later.
Some habits are more difficult to get rid of and for Toronto it is starting the game on time. In both games so far this season, Toronto has not come out strong. Montreal’s goal in game one and all three of Ottawa’s goals in game two were scored in the first period.
The Toronto Maple Leafs could have started the season 2-0 had they showed up on time in the first period against the Senators. It should be noted that Ottawa’s goals were deflections and there wasn’t much that Mrazek could do. With that being said, if Toronto started the game off strong, Ottawa wouldn’t have had the puck so much.
Ottawa had the puck, they controlled the pace of the game and they had good things happen when they shot the puck towards the net.
Team Defense
Part of the problem with the overall team defense can also be attributed to Toronto’s slow starts. There have been too many turnovers and odd man rushes against. Montreal’s goal on Wednesday came on a 2-on-1 odd man rush.
Ottawa’s first goal on Thursday was the end result of a turnover by Pierre Engvall. Instead of chipping the puck out of the Toronto zone, Engvall tried to pass the puck back to Justin Holl. Holl wasn’t expecting it, and Ottawa picked it off. Ottawa controlled the play and ended up scoring.
Ottawa’s third goal and eventual game winner was scored after Toronto again failed to get the puck out of their zone when they had the chance. These types of plays can’t happen and Toronto will have to do a better job when they have the puck.
The Ugly: 2nd Defense Pairing
Sometimes the ugly can overshadow the good a team or player is doing. That just so happens to be the case for the Maple Leafs.
Considering that the defense pairing of Holl and Jake Muzzin is supposed to be Toronto’s shutdown pairing, they are not doing a very good job. The pair are a combined minus five through two games.
Although both Muzzin and Holl do some good things when they’re on the ice, it gets overshadowed by all the goals against. Obviously not all the goals against are their fault, but the underlining plus/minus record is not good.
Hopefully things will start going their way soon, starting with their game on Saturday against Ottawa.
Toronto Maple Leafs Fringe Players
Every team has a couple of players who could be in and out of the lineup all season. For the Maple Leafs, those players are Pierre Engvall and Michael Amadio.
Yes Engvall has scored a goal, but he is also a minus two with three giveaways. He will need to do more without the puck if he wants to stay in the lineup. After Saturday’s game against the Senators, it is expected that Matthews will return to the lineup. With other players shifting down in the lineup, Engvall could find himself being a healthy scratch soon.
Amadio has been nearly invisible for the Maple Leafs. In two games, he has played a total of 18 minutes, has just one shot attempt, one hit and two giveaways. Amadio is not expected to generate offense, but if he stays invisible then it could be him who becomes the healthy scratch once Matthews returns.
Final Thoughts
Yes there are some areas of concern that the Maple Leafs need to address, but it has only been two games. There is still plenty of season ahead of them.
Next. Complete Overview of the Leafs Prospect System. dark
If these problem continue beyond the ten game mark, then it could be time to start worrying. Overall I think the team has played well, and hopefully good things will happen more often once Matthews is back in the lineup.