Game 78 Scoring Chances: Sabres 4 vs. Maple Leafs 3

There wasn’t much action at even strength in the first period, with just four chances between the two teams, but each team managed a goal at ES in the frame.

The Toronto Maple Leafs then went ahead early in the second, and seemed to be in good shape, only for things to go south in the second half of the period. While the Leafs did open up a 3-1 lead at one point, the Buffalo Sabres were dominating the chances, finishing the period on an 11-2 stretch at ES. They continued that push in the third, and two quick goals soon put Buffalo ahead. Toronto were able to put on some late pressure with the extra man, but couldn’t get an equalizer, ending their win streak.

Toronto’s performance at even strength was really poor, as they were totally outclassed in the 2nd period by the worst team in the League.

Bernier on Horachek's msg in 2nd intermission: "We're not playing preseason here"

— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) April 2, 2015

Player-by-Player data:

On a night where there wasn’t a lot of even strength offense, the top line was still fairly effective, as they managed to finish even, a strong defensive effort for them. This was in spite of the fact that JVR and Kessel did not get a single ES start in the Buffalo zone. The top trio were the only forwards with an offensive zone start ratio under 50%, so you’d expect the other lines to pick up the offensive slack. Unfortunately, that didn’t really happen. Nazem Kadri had a bad start, -5 at ES Close, but was at least on for most of the ES Leaf chances in the 3rd period. He wasn’t the only forward who had poor numbers, as Joffrey Lupul and Trevor Smith had were even worse in terms of chances, and unlike Kadri they didn’t have a strong bounce-back in the third period. The worst of the forwards in chances was David Booth, who wasn’t on for a single Leaf chance all night, and was -6 at ES Close.

Jake Gardiner and Morgan Rielly have seen the difficulty of their minutes go up recently, and have responded well. Rielly played a low-event game at ES, not on for many chances either way, while Gardiner, like Kadri, rallied in the third period to finish at even. Dion Phaneuf had a bad chance night, -5 at even strength. However, he was far from the worst defenceman, as Brennan and Erixon, despite softer minutes, had numbers that were almost as bad, both -5 at ES Close.

Cumulative numbers this season:

Tim Erixon enters the table after playing his 11th game. His numbers are bad at ES Close, especially considering how easy his minutes have been, but are truly terrible at ES Overall. His ES percentage is very similar to the percentage Holzer put up before he was traded, but the German was typically playing much more difficult minutes. The US-born Swede hasn’t shown a whole lot in his brief time as a Leaf, and I question whether he’ll be back.