The Toronto Maple Leafs lost another winnable game last night to go down 2-1 in the series to the Boston Bruins and give back home-ice advantage.
The Toronto Maple Leafs - for the second time so far - lost a winnable game that was theirs for the taking, but just like in game one they shot themselves in the foot and let Boston take the W.
In game one the Leafs took stupid penalties and their goalie didn't come up with big saves when needed. The Leafs outshot the Bruins, and if not for 2 PP goals against, might have won if Auston Matthews and the rest of his line had played a better game.
In game three, the Leafs were the better team for much of the night, but again special teams, goaltending and coaching let them down. For the second time in three games, the Matthews/Domi/Bertuzzi line was bad and the team lost.
Bad Goaltending, Worse Coaching as Toronto Maple Leafs Cost Themselves a Game
The Leafs load up the first PP unit and get bad results. You'd think after all this time they'd try the obvious move of using two balanced units for equal amounts of time, but you would be wrong....appearently. (stats nautralstattrick.com).
Much like the PP, the need for change was obvious all season long in the Leafs net, but they did nothing and stuck with Samsonov even though it means having the worst goalie in any conceivably possible matchup that could occur in this year's playoffs.
While Samsonov didn't cost them game-one, he certainly didn't help. He did cost them game three though, letting in two absolutely brutal goals, and even a third one if you want to be mean about it (the rebound is on him, but he's got to expect the defense to take care of that).
The bruins have scored on half their power-plays in the three game so far, and that is absolutely pathetic. Your goalie is supposed to be your best penalty killer, but the Leafs goalie is Boston's best power-play weapon.
Again, the Leafs aren't down because of goaltending alone, but they've played well enough that there is at least a good chance that a hot goalie would be up 3-0 right now.
The power-play went 0-5 which is a joke, the PK went 1 for 2 which is bad. The coach played Joel Edmundson more than anyone else at 5v5, which is just ridiculous. I probably don't have to say this, but the Leafs were absolutely crushed when he was on the ice.
Whether it's not pairing up Marner with Matthews, whether it's refusing to give Nick Robertson a more prominant role, the horrible special teams or the bad choice to play Samsonov instead of Woll, Sheldon Keefe is just not making a positive difference in any way.
The Leafs are being outcoached. The Bruins goalies are outplaying the Leafs goalies significantly. The Leafs can't score, and they stink on special teams.
It would be extremely helpful if William Nylander was playing, but then again, he isn't paid to stop pucks.