Coming into last night’s game against the Nashville Predators, the Toronto Maple Leafs were feeling good. They had seemingly put behind them a stretch of poor play and losing hockey with three straight quality wins, against Calgary, Colorado and the New York Rangers.
Meanwhile, the struggling Predators had lost four straight, are far removed from the playoff race, and appear to be simply playing out the string. On paper, this should have been a fairly easy Toronto Maple Leafs victory. In other words, it was a classic trap game.
After taking a 2-0 first period lead, the wheels fell off for the Leafs. Nashville scored five unanswered goals (including an empty-netter) for a 5-2 home-ice win.
Yes, for Toronto, it was their third game in four nights (and also their fourth game in six nights). On the other hand, they were ahead by two goals after the first period, and simply couldn’t hold that lead. We’ve seen that scenario too many times this season, where the Toronto Maple Leafs don’t seem to be able to protect a lead with solid defensive hockey.
The problem wasn’t so much that the Leafs were tired, as the play was fairly even for much of the game. Toronto’s undoing was too many careless mistakes.
Over-aggressive pinches by the defense and missed coverage by the forwards led to several Nashville odd-man rushes. These types of failures are something Craig Berube and his staff will have to work towards eliminating over the last few weeks of the regular season.
Despite the disappointing loss, Toronto is still neck and neck with the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning (who both lost Saturday as well) in the race for first place in the Atlantic Division (standings per NHL.com).
Looking on the positive side of the ledger, there have been some bright spots emerging over the past week for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The powerplay scored once again against Nashville, and the five-forward first unit seems to have its mojo going. Success of this unit will be an absolute must in the playoffs, where goals become much harder to come by.
Scott Laughton has struggled mightily since coming over from the Philadelphia Flyers at the trade deadline, but he looked a bit more comfortable last night, even scoring a goal that was called back on a high stick. The other recent newcomer, Brandon Carlo, is settling in nicely on the blue line and adding some much-needed depth to the defense corps.
Perhaps most importantly, Auston Matthews played well once again, picking up two assists. Whatever ailment has been bothering Matthews for much of the season seems to be healing, and his confidence and effectiveness have increased greatly as of late.
Finally, a word about the Toronto Maple Leafs goaltending. Both Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz are healthy, and both have put up strong performances recently. Woll may not have been at his best against the Predators, but he was solid.
Craig Berube seems to have decided to keep both goalies sharp down the stretch and let their play decide who will ultimately start Game 1 of the playoffs.
The Leafs now have a couple of days to rest before hosting the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.