5 Thoughts from the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 Loss to Lightning

2. Made Goaltending Harder than it Had to Be

Jack Campbell played a great game, but his team really couldn’t keep up. I’m sorry, but when your team continues to take penalties after they find how short the leash is for the night, there isn’t much you can do. Campbell was held out to dry multiple times, from the breakaway stop due to a lack of coverage and awareness on a line change to his defender not boxing out his man.

Let’s go over the goals that Campbell allowed real quick:

1. Victor Hedman PP goal: Unlucky poke check dropped right in front of Hedman, giving him plenty of time and space to score. Campbell was already down scrambled to get into position. And it’s Hedman, of course he’ll score if you give him that opportunity.
2. Corey Perry break away goal: The Maple Leafs took a dumb line change and no one took the assignment on their way off. Ilya Lyubushkin attempted to defend that, but Collin Blackwell was too busy watching where the puck is rather than where it could be going. Perry had a straight line from the bench to the net, and made the Maple Leafs pay.
3. Nikita Kucherov PP goal: David Kampf tried to pass the puck to a stick-less TJ Brodie on the PK rather than dumping it himself. Brodie obviously can’t clear it, so the Lightning get it back. As Brodie reaches for his stick, the Lighting reset and Kucherov finds himself with a shooting lane. He took it, and the snipe found its way into the net.
4. Hagel goal: Lazy pass by Auston Matthews leads to an odd-man rush with Kucherov, Mikhail Sergachev, and Brandon Hagel. Timothy Liljegren had to pick up a rushing Hagel and tie up his stick, but he didn’t and Hagel had a second chance opportunity with a down goaltender and a half-open net.
5. Brayden Point PP goal: Brayden Point found himself in the middle of three guys. Somehow, he still got the puck and wasn’t picked up. Is there something the Maple Leafs could have done differently? Yes, cover the man. No one paid attention to the guys on the ice and rather the puck carrier. While the puck carrier is the main assignment, it is for the defender on him. Everyone else needs to keep their head on a swivel to look for potential passing lanes.

The common issue here was the lack of awareness the Toronto Maple Leafs had on defense. Lilijgren had to tie up Hagel’s stick, and he didn’t. Perry had a walk-in from the bench due to an irresponsible change. Kucherov scored when Kampf tried to pass the puck to a stick-less teammate, and Point scored when he was in the middle of coverage.