The Toronto Maple Leafs just cannot score.
The Toronto Maple Leafs once again lost a very winnable gane last night, this time to the Vancouver Canucks, and were unable to enter the NHL's Four Nations Faceoff break on a winning note.
The Leafs had won their previous three games, but couldn't make it four in a row because their offense was a no-show. Somehow, the Leafs are 17th in the NHL in total goals scored despite having one of the best groups of offensive player in the NHL.
They may want to consider the following while they're on break: They give too many ozone faceoffs to bad defensive players like Domi and Robertson which has the opportunity cost of taking those sweet draws away from their best players. They also dump and chase too much, and don't have the correct amount of puck-moving defenseman on their roster to properly compliment their world-class forwards.
No Trade Action, Maple Leafs a Winnable Game, Chris Tanev Double-Snubbed
The game last night was the type of typical game in which a Cup Contender would get two points they didn't really deserve: On the road, with a break on the horizon, against a weaker team, they were outplayed and outworked, but their goalie kept them in the game, and their high-end scorers should have been able to win it.
If the Leafs have one problem, it's that their game style doesn't really compliment their biggest strength (which is the offensive power of Tavares, Matthews, Marner and. Matthews) and so when they play badly, it's a lot to ask those guys to bail them out every single time.
Nylander was poke-checked on a breakaway, and Matthews was flat-out robbed by Kevin Lankinen's glove. The Leafs didn't deserve to win, but they could have, and that's what top teams do. Conclusion? The Leafs are not a top team.
Additionally, Auston Matthews went his sixth straight game without a goal. The Leafs are 3-3 in those games, which I think tells you a lot about this team and where it's at - essentially they're a .500 team that is elevated by it's superstars, when they come through. When they don't, they just don't score enough to win.
Their three losses over the last six games were all by one goal (Minnesota scored an empty netter to win 3-1) and had Matthews scored, they would have had a winning record. Then again, they need to be able to win when he doesn't score.
There was a thought yesterday that maybe the Leafs had traded / were about to trade for Scott Laughton, but that does not appear to have been the case. The rumour that he was being held out of the game last night turned out to be false and he scored a goal against the Penguins in the Flyers eventual victory. As I have been saying, Laughton is a good pick up for the Leafs if the cost is low and he's not their main Trade Deadline move.
Finally, Chris Tanev has been snubed a second time. Despite the fact he should have been a shoe-in for the original Four Nations Roster, he was snubbed yesterday when the managers of Team Canada selected Drew Doughty (bizarrely also leaving Evan Bouchard off the roster as well) as Alex Pietrangelo's replacement.