Game 82 Scoring Chances: Canadiens 4 vs. Maple Leafs 3 (SO)

The Leafs’ disappointing season finished with one of their stronger performances of 2015, against a playoff-bound Montreal team.

The Leafs out-chanced Montreal in the first period, and despite blowing a lead in less than twenty seconds, they finished the period ahead after Casey Bailey’s first NHL goal. The two teams were again essentially even in chances during the second period, but a late Canadiens goal left the game tied going to the third. Montreal then seized control of the game, out-chancing Toronto 9-0 in the first ten minutes of the third, but couldn’t get a goal. Toronto managed to even things out over the final stretch of regulation. Neither team managed to score the rest of the way, and the game went to a shoot-out, which Montreal won.

The Leafs had a strong start, out-chancing the Habs 11-7 through two periods, and held onto that advantage in the third. Montreal had a number of power-play chances in that third, but all went for naught.

Player-by-Player data:

With big changes potentially afoot for this roster in the off-season, this could be the last time we see this top line together. If it is, they at least made their farewell a good one, with a strong offensive performance. The top line generated the majority of the Leafs‘ chances, and Tyler Bozak and Phil Kessel finished as the top Leaf players in chance differential. The other two top lines were about even, with both Nazem Kadri and Peter Holland ending up exactly even. For Kadri, as well as for Joakim Lindstrom, finishing even was a strong performance, as they had among the highest defensive zone start ratios on the team. Colton Orr, who was called up for a final game with the Leafs, played only a few minutes, and had little impact in terms of chances.

Hope for the future on the blue line rests with Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly, and both had strong games to finish off their 2014-15 seasons. Gardiner had the most defensive zone start percentage of the defencemen, but still managed to be on for a good number of chances, and finished in the positive. Rielly also had a fairly defensive ZS ratio, but was the best on the blue line at ES, +3, while leading the team in ES ice-time. Eric Brewer seems certain to have played his last Leaf game, and had a strong night, on for just one Habs chance at ES. Dion Phaneuf, whose future is much more up in the air, was even in a high-event night, on for a lot of chances at both ends. Tim Erixon managed to finish even, despite getting tougher zone starts than usual, while Andrew MacWilliam was in the negative at a team worst -2.

Cumulative numbers this season:

I’ll have more on the season with a summary post later in the week, but these are the final numbers for the guys who finished the season in the Leafs organization. You can see how poorly Erixon and MacWilliam did, as they are way below the rest of the team at the bottom of the table. A contributor to the Leafs’ struggles down the stretch is how bad that third pairing was. Leo Komarov finished the season as the best Leaf at ES overall, while Joakim Lindstrom is the only current Leaf to out-chance opponents at ES Close while on the ice this year.