Game Review: Game #8, Boston Bruins 4 vs. Maple Leafs 1

With an ugly loss to the Boston Bruins, the Maple Leafs have fallen to 1-4 on home ice, and Randy Carlyle sounds lost for answers again already.

While the Bruins carried the edge in play, this was somewhat of a nothing game for the first 40. A flukey first goal and a bad pinch put the Leafs behind 2-0. It wasn’t out of reach until a disastrous early third period powerplay, which this game seemed to hinge on, yielded a shorthanded goal against. 

While the Maple Leafs struggled to get more than one line going among their 11 forwards, the Bruins showed them what 4-line hockey looks like, getting contributions from all four lines while keeping all 12 forwards at 11 minutes or above in time-on-ice.

This Leaf team is still struggling to produce against teams that make them earn their inches. The 2^nd line had a number of good shifts while struggling to break through, the 3^rd line wasn’t itself, and the top line was bottled up, unable to find their rhythm or play with speed against the neutral zone structure of the Bruins.

The Leafs were second best on the lion’s share of battles and that’s nothing new for them against the Bruins especially. It’s never a good sign when a veteran new to the team is making these type of remarks eight games into the new season:

[quote_box_center]“It’s pretty simple,” said Stephane Robidas, “the compete level’s got to go way higher.”[/quote_box_center]

Making matters worse, the powerplay, where the team made hay for much of last season, has effectively dried up to the tune of 19 consecutive failed attempts with the man advantage.

The Leafs struggled at times with the Bruin forecheck, and there were issues with their forwards standing flat footed at the offensive blueline waiting for a breakout pass, either leading to giveaways or tip ins from flat footed positions, which often does not beget effective puck retrieval.

The team kept the doors closed to the media for a few extra minutes after the game as they searched for answers amongst themselves, rekindling not-too-distant memories of last season’s collapse.

Player Notes

Nazem Kadri – As he sits stuck at 2 points, he’s starting to catch more and more heat as the days go by. I thought he put in an honest effort. His line is knocking at the door and spending lots of time in the right end of the rink. On the PP early in the 3rd, PP unit #1 was sputtering again and he hopped the boards in place of Bozak and injected some urgency into it, nearly scoring on a jam play. Caught some heat on the basis of ‘inexperience’ from Kypreos and online for speaking up about the team’s need to ‘care more’ after the game… Looked to me to be one of few with the right to say anything after last night’s game. No issues with what he said, no issue’s with his effort, Kadri just needs to stick with it.

Leafs players really are in a no-win situation with the media when it comes to losses like this. Duck the media and get lambasted for it, offer canned answers after a bad loss and get heat for that, or show up and be honest about things and get called out on your right to say it.

Dion Phaneuf – Combined for an embarrassing lesson on how not to defend with Gardiner for the backbreaking 3-0 goal, shorthanded to boot.  Gardiner was initially at fault, but Phaneuf tried a one arm poke of his own at the loose puck and then just forgot about Campbell in front. A shame because I didn’t mind his game up until this point.

The ACC turned on the team after that goal and it was hard to blame them.

Jake Gardiner – Ducking out on a battle and trying to one arm the puck with a forechecker bearing down is inexcusable for an NHL defenceman.  You can’t blame Carlyle for this type of stuff, to be sure. If he hated Gardiner he would’ve stapled him to the bench after the 3-0 incident; knowing the Leafs needed offense, he was back out one shift later… and got torched by Hamilton for the 4-0 goal.

Stuart Percy –  Threw the puck away up the middle on a clearance attempt on the first PK just before the opening Bruins goal; although the goal itself was quite flukey, that shouldn’t happen. Honeymoon might be waning as he in particular had trouble with the Bruin forecheck almost from start to finish — reflected in the stats, which showed him as a -10 in Corsi at evens in only 10 minutes of ice time.  In lieu of 7D, would the Leafs be better off establishing some regular pairings and letting him play big minutes as the 1D on the Marlies?

Where you sympathize with Carlyle and Horachek on the 7D decision is that he hasn’t really been a pairing that’s emerged that they can be all that comfortable with. That said, it’s their job to try to find some, and this rotating partners approach doesn’t seem to be the way to fix what ails them.

Daniel Winnik – Consistently a bright spot even in bad Leaf losses so far; a hard worker and a smart one. Two examples in the first period of how Winnik helps drive possession by being a heady, hardworking 200 foot player:

He’s consistently doing the grunt work for Kadri and Lupul; those two, with two and three points respectively, have to find a way to break through offensively.

Sidenote: It’s neat and all that the Sportsnet/CBC broadcasts are trying to incorporate possession numbers, but is there really a point if the “analysts” on air literally do not have a single clue what they measure or how they’re calculated? At one point Glen Healy said, in reference to the Leafs’ 2nd line, “they have 55% of the puck, but in what zone? That might give you the answer.” Putting aside the fact that possessing the puck in your own zone 55% of the time makes absolutely zero sense, anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of possession stats know it has to be the offensive zone because that’s where shot attempts take place.

Cody Franson – Had some luck in the early parts of the game with some good pinches and step ups at his blueline, but picked a bad time to pinch five minutes to go in the 2nd, taking a risk cutting off a chip up the boards and getting burned for the Krejci goal.

Joffrey Lupul – Had his line’s best chance of the game very early on (their 2nd shift of the game ) off a nice pass from Winnik coming out from behind the net. Good work by the 2nd line also to set up Morgan Rielly with a good look creeping off the point in the late 2nd period. For much of the first 40, though, he and his line struggled to turn cycle time into scoring chances. There are worse problems to have.

Carlyle moved him onto a line with Bozak and Kessel in the early third, circa 2011-12 … On their first shift, they got into the offensive zone and Kessel drew a penalty. Carlyle put them back out at 5v5 after Boston’s 3-0 shorthanded goal and Lupul turned the puck over inside the blueline, leading to Hamilton’s rush past Gardiner for the 4-0 marker.

Morgan Rielly – Two good shots creeping off the point forcing very good saves from Rask, rushed the puck purposefully on a few occasions, relatively mistake free in 18 minutes of work… Rielly hasn’t been great to start the season, but this was a performance to build on.

Roman Polak – A compliment to him but a condemnation of the rest of the group — might be the least of the Leafs worries on defence so far this season?

Leo Komarov – First game I didn’t love of his so far this season. Just 20% on the faceoff circle, turned the puck over a few times, and the physical edge wasn’t as noticeable.

David Clarkson – Could’ve been a much different game for Clarkson. Liked his physicality, but he got dinged for a few penalties, one costly, and missed the net on a prime opportunity when the game was still in reach.

James van Riemsdyk – Pointless in four of his last five and just 1 shot on goal tonight.

Tyler Bozak – Game maybe goes a much different direction if he buries the first golden chance of the hockey game off a nice play by Gardiner and Clarkson on the early PP.  Didn’t see him much after that.

Phil Kessel – No Chara, but the Bruins did a good job shutting him down as a five-man committee nonetheless. Lined up against Seidenberg quite a bit, but got some shifts against the Bruins’ second and third pairings and didn’t accomplish much. Bruins made a point to pressure him on the half wall of the PP and he coughed up the puck a few times. -2 with 3 shots on goal. More frustrating nights than not for Phil so far this season.

Game Highlights