Auston Matthews can't score every single game, but the Maple Leafs don't really seem to have an answer for when he doesn't.
And even when he does, he usually doesn't get enought help. Secondary scoring has haunted this team, and in their last four losses, the Maple Leafs have three goals total, and Matthews has two of them.
In their last six losses, the Leafs have eight goals total and Matthews has four of them.
Sure, the Leafs are missing John Tavares and Matthew Knies, but there's no excuse for scoring just one goal against the Ottawa Senators in a game that was otherwise very winnable. (stats naturalstattrick.com).
Ottawa Is Not a Great Defensive Team: The Maple Leafs Need to Be Way Better
I'm sure you've heard of this before, but in hockey, you've got to go to the net. It's a pretty simply concept, but the Leafs were nothing but a perimetre team last night. If you click here, you can scroll down and see the heat map for last night's game. The Leafs just did not have any chances from in close, which makes scoring hard.
Auston Matthews had one shot. Pontus Holmberg led the team with five ozone faceoffs. The Leafs had one power-play (in which they did not produce a single dangerous scoring chance). If one of those three things happen, maybe you could win the game. But all three? Doubtful.
Also, you know it's going to be a loss when Ryan Reaves ends up with more ice time than two other players. If Berube isn't going to trust rookies to get minutes, what's the point of having them in the lineup? Jacob Quillan and Fraser Minten were complete non-factors in this game, other than the fact that Quillan had a terrifying collision with Nick Cousins, who did not return to the game and likely won't play for a long time.
Noteably the Leafs didn't even produce a shot-attempt with Fraser Minten on the ice.
The Leafs though, overall, weren't exactly bad. They led the Senators in shots, puck-possession and expected goals, and were the better team overall, probably. But they failed to get to the net and didn't draw any penalties and just didn't give the extra effort needed to win what was a very winnable game.
The Leafs are off until Wednesday when they will play the Minnesota Wild and try to avoid their third loss in a row.