Toronto Maple Leafs: Sheldon Keefe, Analytics, Mistakes and Excuses

When are we going to call it like it is? The Toronto Maple Leafs are a mistake-driven team.

The Toronto Maple Leafs outplayed the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night by virtually every statistical measure that I can find, but it was the Kings that came away with a 5-1 victory.

The Leafs owned the majority of shots, scoring chances, high-danger chances, and had better puck possession (all stats via naturalstatrick.com).  They won the special teams battle too, heck, they even outhit them 36-34, and yet they still lost.  Jonathan Quick was noticeably good and Jack Campbell was noticeably average, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.

If I look at the video of every Kings goal in that game, I find a glaring mistake on every one.

Liljegren challenged a faster skater way too far up ice and got burned on the Moore goal.  Tavares, Bunting, and Marner all played soft on the puck at the red line, and the turnover leads to a rush goal against on the Athanasiou goal.  Marner let his man walk right down main street unchecked to receive a pass in the slot on the first Danault goal.  On his second goal, Danault is again wide open in the slot when Marner and Dermott don’t pick him up as he drifts into the middle of the ice.

Now, I’m not saying these guys can’t make mistakes, but this is sort of how the Leafs lose, isn’t it?  The mistakes that the Kings made led to turnovers and chances, the mistakes that the Leafs made led to goals.

Should Campbell have stopped a couple of those attempts?  Sure, but Campbell is not the problem. This is an example of what happens when this team doesn’t get excellent individual performances from it’s key players.