Toronto Maple Leafs Shut-Out by Goal-Posts; Penguins Goalie

The Toronto Maple Leafs played a very good game last night in which they were the better team (by far) and which they did not deserve to lose.

Tristan Jarry, whose name conjures images of a private school bully whose dad owns a bank, shutout the Toronto Maple Leafs in what may be the least deserved shut-out in the history of the goaltending position.

Sure, Jarry made some saves, but the Leafs beat him four or five times, only to have the puck hit the post or the crossbar.

On the other hand, the Penguins twice beat Jack Campbell, but at least one of those goals was a total fluke.

Toronto Maple Leafs vs Penguins

This was a frustrating game – not just because of the five or ten goal posts –  but because of the officiating.  In the first, Auston Matthews was hooked blatantly while he had the puck by Sidney Crosby (this led to Marner hitting the crossbar) and you have to ask yourself, how the refs missed the call – like, if you aren’t watching Matthews, Crosby or the puck, what exactly are you paying attention to? (stats naturalstattrick.com).  

This was the most egregious example, but the Leafs should have had about eight or nine power-plays if the refs called the game properly.

The Toronto Maple Leafs had possession of the puck for 56% of the time, and they had ten shots in the slot compared to Pittsburgh’s five.  The Penguins ultimately outshot the Leafs, but goalposts and crossbars do not count as shots on net.

The Leafs honestly can’t be too upset here. They played in a way in which they will usually win the game, but you aren’t going to win every time that happens.  They previously won 10 of 11, so it is kind of hard to be too upset about the outcome here because things do have a way of balancing out.

The Leafs are winning games and playing well, even though they aren’t scoring too much.

The Leafs rank 26th in the NHL in all-situations goals per minute.  And yet, they rank 2nd in expected-goals per minute.   These two numbers will eventually align and the Leafs will be one of the NHL’s highest scoring teams.

The reason why I have never waivered in my belief about this version of the Leafs is because when they lost to Montreal and Columbus in the playoffs it was mostly because they didn’t score.  This year, their biggest problem is that they can’t score.   If you are beset by problems caused by your biggest strength, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Time will take care of it.

The Leafs are the best offensive team in the NHL, but hockey is a funny game, and you don’t always get the results you deserve – in the short term.  The Leafs will eventually break out of their scoring slump and when they do they will be nearly unstoppable.