Advertisement

The second half of Toronto’s trip to Florida saw the Leafs have a solid start, given they were playing a back-to-back.

They were narrowly out-chanced in the first ten minutes, but in a familiar story, led 2-0. Tampa rallied from that deficit, getting a resounding thirteen of the next fourteen chances and getting level on the scoreboard. With the game tied, Toronto found their game again, and finished near even in chances for the period. Things fell apart in the final frame, as Tampa Bay out-chanced the Leafs 7-2 in the lead-up to Stamkos’ go-ahead goal. Toronto managed only three chances in the last nine minutes as they tried to chase down the game, and only one of those came at even strength, as they dropped a second straight.

StatusOverallEven StrengthES Close
TeamTORTBL%TORTBL%TORTBL%
151327.8%31220.0%3537.5%
2101343.5%8947.1%7750.0%
35741.7%3730.0%2722.2%
Total203337.7%142833.3%121938.7%

Through two periods, the Leafs were actually in good shape at ES Close, as their weakest period of play came while they were 2-0 ahead. However, the third was terrible, and they ended up with their worst ES chance showing since the game against Detroit that Reimer miraculously won.

ClubStPTimeTScOscNoteTorontoFlorida
TBLES118:2900Paquette from Stamkos254321465134139127627730
TBLES116:5000Killorn deflects Connolly shot428119444634175124627730
TORES115:3200GOAL! Santorelli from Kadri254321343498618627730
TBLES115:1310Stamkos from Drouin25432134341391277830
TORES113:0510Phaneuf wide from Winnik2326373434175114627730
TBLES112:4510Stralman drives428119343417512462530
TBLES112:2510Stralman from Killorn4281194513417512462530
TORES112:1310GOAL! Lupul from Bozak4281194513413179162530
TORPP111:2320Van Riemsdyk from Bozak4281213434111377730-
TORPP110:2620Clarkson from Lupul43712144553491862530-
TBLES109:1420Stamkos post from Kucherov2471204451349186276830
TBLSH107:3820Killorn wide from Stamkos242134634-175191247730
TBLES105:1420Johnson drives25432151553498627627730
TBLES104:4220Callahan deflects Hedman shot2543213434175124627730
TBLES104:0520Boyle from Connolly2471204451341114107830
TBLES103:3120Paquette from Boyle23263751553411131062530
TBLES102:1520Callahan wide from Hedman4281193434175124627730
TBLES100:1320Callahan drives247120343417512462530
TBLES219:4020Killorn from loose puck428119343417512462530
TORES218:0520Clarkson drives wide2471205155349186187830
TBLES215:0320Drouin drives2471205155341391277830
TBLSH213:2520Stamkos from Hedman242644634-175191247730
TBLSH213:2320GOAL! Callahan from rebound of Stamkos shot242644634-175191247730
TBLES212:5521Johnson wraparound4281195155349861862530
TORES210:5721Lupul from Bozak4281195155341391277830
TORES210:4521Gardiner post from loose puck4281195155341391277830
TBLES210:4321Barberio from Paquette4281195155341391277830
TORES210:2921Lupul from Kessel42811951553417512486230
TBLES210:1421GOAL! Filppula deflects Hedman shot428119515534175124627730
TBLES208:1622Stamkos from Morrow254321465134119110627730
TBLES206:2922Filppula drives428119343417518677730
TORES206:0122Booth from Bozak428120455349861877730
TORES205:5622Booth from rebound428120455349861877730
TORES205:5222Booth wide from rebound4281205155349861877730
TBLSH204:5922Stamkos from Filppula264234634-175191247730
TBLSH203:5522Johnson wide from Kucherov242145534-9148618630
TORSH203:4422Holland drives2421445534-9148618630
TORSH203:4022Van Riemsdyk from rebound of Holland shot2421445534-9148618630
TBLES202:0422Stamkos from Drouin232537446341391277830
TORES201:3722Ashton wraparound23253744634175124627730
TBLES200:3422Stamkos from Drouin428119355341391277830
TBLES319:3622Palat wide from Hedman254321343498618627730
TORES316:3622Santorelli drives2543214446349861862530
TBLES315:4622Callahan drives4281194446341751247830
TORES313:3722Bozak wraparound wide42811944463451241862530
TBLES313:0622Palat drives4281194446349861862530
TBLES312:1922Stamkos drives wide2471205155341391277830
TBLES310:0022Kucherov wide from loose puck25432151553498618627730
TBLES309:0122Carle deflects Stralman shot wide247120343491242762530
TBLES308:5522GOAL! Stamkos deflects Carle shot247120343491242762530
TORPP307:0023Kadri deflects Franson shot wide43812134341113627730-
TORES306:1723Rielly wide from Kadri4319714446349171872530
TOREN300:0423Kessel from Phaneuf4243812135111139167730

Player-by Player data:

PlayerOverallEven StrengthES Close
ForAgainstDiffTOIForAgainstDiffTOIForAgainstDiff
Phaneuf513-823:37211-916:1827-5
Franson815-720:23612-614:4768-2
Lupul612-617:07612-616:25510-5
Booth47-313:4347-313:43330
Van Riemsdyk89-116:4227-512:0625-3
Smith22006:4922006:49211
Holland311-817:1617-612:1303-3
Santorelli38-513:2538-513:0336-3
Winnik14-311:4011006:34101
Ashton22007:2322007:23211
Bozak1013-321:09812-416:53810-2
Kadri67-114:5437-413:1525-3
Rielly65117:4435-215:5423-1
Polak410-621:3146-217:0136-3
Gardiner713-618:42613-718:1658-3
Holzer1010018:2679-215:30660
Clarkson37-412:5527-511:5203-3
Kessel1112-120:50812-417:46810-2
Reimer1933-1458:371428-1447:301219-7

The top line had a decent game, trading chances with the Lightning, and while they ended up in the negative, Kessel and Bozak were the most effective Leafs at generating chances. Joffrey Lupul was less effective, ending up the worst forward at ES Close, a -5. The second line wasn’t great, as Kadri and Van Riemsdyk also ended up as negatives, but without the top pair’s offense. Peter Holland was -6 at ES overall, the worst forward on the team, though this may be down to usage, as he, along with Clarkson and David Booth, didn’t get a single offensive zone start. Booth had one of his better games, as he played more ES minutes than the likes of JVR and Kadri, and while he ended up -3, he was even at ES Close after a good shift. Smith and Ashton were both positives in their limited minutes, some of the only forwards to manage that.

Morgan Rielly and Roman Polak both ended up -2 at ES overall, but that’s actually not a bad performance, given that they were buried in zone starts, as like Holland they didn’t have an OZone start all game. Franson and Phaneuf, who also got a lot of tough minutes, both responded poorly, with among their worst games of the year. Phaneuf was a -5 at ES close, and a team low -9 overall, and Franson’s -6 wasn’t much better. Jake Gardiner had a bad game as well, as despite some of the softest zone starts on the team, he was almost as bad as Phaneuf, on for 13 Lightning ES chances, and a -7. Holzer ended up the best defender in terms of the chance numbers, although that may be due to an easy 60% OZone start number.

Cumulative numbers this season:

OverallPos#Even StrengthES Close
ForAgainst%TOIForAgainst%
FransonD3519919450.6%15:5311610253.2%
WinnikF3510913544.7%12:11615751.7%
KomarovF23787351.7%12:32394049.4%
KadriF3717720046.9%14:1710611049.1%
ClarksonF3714116046.8%12:21767949.0%
PhaneufD3721124546.3%17:1412814047.8%
PanikF33626947.3%08:22384446.3%
BernierG2635342745.3%45:0320524545.6%
KesselF3720323945.9%14:2711814245.4%
RiellyD3617921545.4%15:179311345.1%
BozakF3719322446.3%14:3510713145.0%
SmithF21354344.9%08:01172144.7%
LupulF2511814844.4%14:00637944.4%
GardinerD3415820343.8%17:038611043.9%
Van RiemsdykF3718523743.8%14:3410613843.4%
PolakD2712417741.2%17:45739742.9%
SantorelliF3713917344.6%13:38739842.7%
ReimerG1518824543.4%42:249612942.7%
HollandF3710315739.6%11:25538039.8%
RobidasD3413118441.6%15:076511236.7%
HolzerD13548738.3%16:05265133.8%
BoothF16254734.7%09:23132831.7%

Gardiner’s struggles this year have been really concerning, as his numbers are not too far ahead of Polak, despite the Czech’s much harder minutes. Clarkson, who started the season excellently, has gradually drifted down, and is now under 50% at ES Close.