This would appear to be another one of those “moral victories” for the Maple Leafs in a back-to-back situation.
Those are only enjoyable for so long, but again there was nothing to shake a stick at in terms of the effort.
Jonathan Bernier has this ongoing habit of starting terribly and slowly winning you back over the course of a game. He even got the third star on the HNIC broadcast tonight, which seems like a bit of a stretch given he really should’ve had the first goal and easily could’ve had the first two. In any event, goalie coach Steve Briere and Bernier have to get to work on whatever it is that has Bernier unready to start games on time. He finished with a .939 SV% on the night, but the nature of the goals (cheapness, timing) matters.
There was a lot to like about the Leafs first 40 minutes, as the Leafs looked to hold a slight edge in possession, and that bears out in the possession and shot numbers. It looked as though the Leafs just ran out of gas when they needed their third period push, which isn’t surprising given the team was playing the second game of a back to back against a rested, talented, and hungry opponent. And especially when you consider Babcock has been pushing this group to play at a really high tempo.
Expectations are still firmly in check – it’s kind of laughable to think a 1-3-1 start would change anything in that respect – but I don’t Babcock says this if he isn’t encouraged by how this team is picking up his systems and showing a commitment to putting in the work through five games:
Babcock, clearly still new here: "We can get this team to win every night; I really believe that."
— James Mirtle (@mirtle) October 18, 2015
This team isn’t folding up shop in the face of adversity, at least so far, and that may well be attributable to better coaching. There couldn’t be a worse way to start the second game of a back to back than what the Leafs got off to thanks to some suspect goaltending, but Mike Babcock called the timeout after the 2-0 goal, appeared to settle the troops down, and held off on the goalie yank, pointing at Bernier and telling him to start playing because he’s not coming out of the game.
It’s not like the Penguins have been their offensive selves to start the year, but the Leafs have been open season for the likes of Crosby and Malkin in the past, so this result was a definite step up. The three-headed monster of Crosby, Malkin and Kessel was held to six shots on goal, and really, if Bernier plays his angle better on the second shot of the game, should’ve been held off the scoreboard entirely.
Matt Hunwick did a fine job on Kessel when they were matched up – which wasn’t always the case due to last change – not allowing him much space to breathe down the wing and keeping his gaps tight. His shots off the rush were largely unthreatening and from outside the circles. The one time Kessel got in behind Hunwick, he made sure to take a piece of Kessel with a sneaky slash so that he couldn’t get the shot off clean.
Dion Phaneuf and Jake Gardiner did a decent job overall on Malkin line when matched up. In the first, Phaneuf outmuscled Malkin and threw him to the ice, rattling him enough for Malkin to completely forget about his duties without the puck, in no small part leading to Leo Komarov’s goal at the other end (watch behind the play on that goal and Malkin is skating backward mouthing at either Phaneuf or the ref at the offensive blueline/center ice instead of hustling back). Babcock mentioned the Gardiner and Phaneuf pairing faded as the game went on, which is fair, but the pairing looks worth keeping together and overall the goal of getting the quantity of Phaneuf’s shifts down to get the quality of them up seems to be working so far. There isn’t going to be much separation in the ice times of the Leafs top four – Hunwick, Dion, Rielly, Gardiner – this season. Babcock has been finding different ways to save Dion’s legs, as he’s only playing about two minutes a game on the penalty kill so far this year, which is fourth on the defence behind Hunwick, Rielly and Polak. The times of seeing Dion play 25, 26 minutes and beyond in a back to back situation is no longer.
The Winnik and Spaling tandem was excellent at 4v5, where the Leafs had a much better night this evening, helping keep the star-studded Penguins units off the board in five opportunities. Over those five opportunities, the Leafs gave up just six shots total. Of course, we all know the Penguins PP has yet to figure out how to successfully integrate its new offensive weapon – hint: sending one-timers to Kessel and his wet-noodle of a stick isn’t the way forward – but the Leafs weren’t the ones to allow the breakthrough, so that’s a positive. Spaling played nearly 19 minutes tonight, highest among all Leaf forwards (a few seconds ahead of JvR and Kadri).
Speaking of Kadri: Another game, another 5+ shot night from Nazem, who also picked up a secondary assist on the Komarov goal. Tonight’s games aren’t finished yet, but he’s up to 27 shots on the season and that leads the NHL for the time being. Only one goal to his name through five, but he won’t shoot 3% forever, and if he can keep his shot rate up, there’s promise here. The Leafs will need something more than a 50-point season from Nazem if they’re to produce enough offence to stay in the mix this season.
All Situations Possession Chart
Shot Location Charts
Leafs Player Possession Stats – Pens 2 vs. Leafs 1
| Name | Corsi For | Corsi Against | Corsi | Corsi For% | Zone Start% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MATT HUNWICK | 14 | 16 | -2 | 46.67% | 25% |
| DION PHANEUF | 11 | 13 | -2 | 45.83% | 55.56% |
| PIERRE-ALEXANDRE PARENTEAU | 11 | 5 | 6 | 68.75% | 33.33% |
| NICK SPALING | 6 | 16 | -10 | 27.27% | 28.57% |
| JOFFREY LUPUL | 4 | 15 | -11 | 21.05% | 33.33% |
| JAMES VAN RIEMSDYK | 11 | 12 | -1 | 47.83% | 42.86% |
| SHAWN MATTHIAS | 4 | 9 | -5 | 30.77% | 80% |
| PETER HOLLAND | 11 | 7 | 4 | 61.11% | 25% |
| DANIEL WINNIK | 5 | 14 | -9 | 26.32% | 28.57% |
| BRAD BOYES | 5 | 8 | -3 | 38.46% | 80% |
| MARK ARCOBELLO | 3 | 12 | -9 | 20% | 42.86% |
| SCOTT HARRINGTON | 4 | 13 | -9 | 23.53% | 60% |
| MICHAEL GRABNER | 12 | 6 | 6 | 66.67% | 33.33% |
| NAZEM KADRI | 14 | 13 | 1 | 51.85% | 50% |
| MORGAN RIELLY | 11 | 13 | -2 | 45.83% | 20% |
| JONATHAN BERNIER | 31 | 43 | -12 | 41.89% | 42.31% |
| ROMAN POLAK | 7 | 17 | -10 | 29.17% | 60% |
| LEO KOMAROV | 11 | 12 | -1 | 47.83% | 40% |
| JAKE GARDINER | 16 | 14 | 2 | 53.33% | 54.55% |
Leafs Player Stats – Pens 2 vs. Leafs 1
| PLAYER | POS | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | S | HITS | BKS | FO% | PP TOI | SH TOI | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M. Hunwick | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | - | 0:06 | 4:32 | 22:01 |
| D. Phaneuf | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | - | 4:21 | 1:26 | 22:25 |
| P. Parenteau | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | - | 4:03 | 0:04 | 11:16 |
| N. Spaling | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 60% | 0:01 | 4:22 | 18:48 |
| J. Lupul | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | 4:11 | 0:05 | 17:32 |
| J. van Riemsdyk | L | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | - | 4:36 | 0:34 | 18:21 |
| S. Matthias | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0% | 0:16 | 1:32 | 10:24 |
| P. Holland | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 60% | 2:28 | 0:35 | 13:29 |
| D. Winnik | C | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | 0:01 | 3:30 | 16:49 |
| B. Boyes | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | 2:26 | 0:34 | 12:57 |
| M. Arcobello | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 54% | 2:12 | 0:47 | 13:38 |
| S. Harrington | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | - | 0:00 | 2:32 | 12:50 |
| M. Grabner | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | 0:00 | 3:44 | 12:25 |
| N. Kadri | C | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 56% | 3:52 | 0:53 | 18:46 |
| M. Rielly | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0:37 | 4:43 | 21:41 |
| R. Polak | D | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | - | 0:00 | 1:55 | 14:54 |
| L. Komarov | C | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0% | 1:39 | 0:02 | 14:13 |
| J. Gardiner | D | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | 2:16 | 0:34 | 20:09 |
