Game 39 Scoring Chances and Zone Entries: Kings 2 vs. Leafs 1

In the second half of a back-to-back in Southern California, James Reimer made his return to the Leafs’ net.

Reimer was excellent, managing to keep the game scoreless into the third period. Eventually, Los Angeles’ pressure told, as they got two goals in just over five minutes to take the lead. The Leafs got a quick response to give them some hope, but couldn’t get any closer than that.

It seemed like Toronto got a fair amount of praise for this game, but the chance and possession statistics point a very different story. The Kings dominated possession, and built up a big margin in chances as well. The Leafs were able to generate a good number of chances on the powerplay, but had only six in the entire game at even strength, one of their lowest outputs of the season. The fact they had a chance in this game is down to James Reimer’s strong play. The Kings also had a very clear edge in the neutral zone, as you’d expect given their possession numbers.

Team	Chances	1st	2nd	3rd	ES	ESClose	ESCh%	NZEnt%	ContEnt
Tor	14	2	6	6	6	5	24.0%	47.1%	35.1%
Lak	22	5	8	9	19	11	76.0%	52.9%	41.0%

It may have been fatigue catching up with the Leafs after five periods of tough hockey in two days, but the Kings came out hot at the start of the third, outchancing the Leafs 6-2 in the first half of the frame, including the two goals. The Leafs weren’t able to generate much at even strength in trying to chase the game, although they did earn some chances with Reimer pulled.

Period	Time	ST	SO	Team	How	State	T1	T2	T3	T4	T5	T6	O1	O2	O3	O4	O5	O6
1	17:44	0	0	Lak	Mersch wraparound	ES	3	23	28	33	34	51	3	8	32	44	49	71
1	13:37	0	0	Tor	Bozak from Parenteau	ES	3	15	21	34	42	51	10	12	32	52	70	77
1	11:26	0	0	Lak	Mersch from Lecavalier	ES	3	23	28	33	34	51	10	32	44	49	52	71
1	07:56	0	0	Lak	Lucic drives	ES	3	15	21	34	42	51	3	8	11	12	17	32
1	07:27	0	0	Lak	Muzzin from faceoff	SH	2	34	40	46	47		6	8	11	17	32	73
1	02:42	0	0	Tor	Winnik from rebound	ES	3	19	24	26	34	51	10	11	12	32	52	77
1	02:06	0	0	Lak	Gaborik from Kopitar	ES	2	23	28	33	34	44	3	8	11	12	32	77
2	17:24	0	0	Lak	Muzzin wide from Pearson	SH	2	34	40	47	52		6	8	12	32	70	77
2	16:33	0	0	Lak	Mersch wide from loose puck	SH	3	24	26	34	44		10	23	27	32	44	49
2	14:47	0	0	Tor	Parenteau wide from Bozak	ES	15	21	34	42	44	51	3	8	22	32	71	74
2	13:44	0	0	Lak	Lewis drives	ES	2	3	23	28	34	42	3	8	22	32	71	74
2	12:25	0	0	Tor	Bozak wide from loose puck	PP	3	15	21	28	34	42	3	8	11	23	32
2	10:40	0	0	Tor	Lupul deflects Holland shot	PP	19	24	34	43	47	51	22	27	32	52	74
2	08:29	0	0	Lak	Kopitar from Toffoli	ES	3	15	21	34	43	51	10	11	17	32	52	73
2	04:50	0	0	Lak	King drives	ES	3	19	24	26	34	52	3	8	22	23	32	74
2	04:38	0	0	Lak	Gaborik from Carter	ES	2	19	24	34	42	51	6	12	27	32	74	77
2	03:23	0	0	Lak	Kopitar drives	ES	2	34	40	43	44	47	6	11	17	27	32	73
2	02:59	0	0	Tor	Lupul drives	ES	3	19	24	26	34	51	10	32	44	49	52	71
2	02:25	0	0	Lak	Muzzin wide from faceoff	ES	2	34	43	44	47		6	22	27	32	74
2	00:49	0	0	Tor	Parenteau wide from Bozak	ES	3	15	21	34	42		6	11	27	32	52
2	00:16	0	0	Tor	Kadri drives	PP	28	34	43	44	47	51	6	27	32	44	73
3	19:43	0	0	Tor	Van Riemsdyk drives wide	PP	3	15	21	28	34	42	11	23	27	32	52
3	17:07	0	0	Lak	GOAL! Muzzin from Lecavalier	ES	3	23	28	33	34	51	6	27	32	44	49	71
3	16:31	0	1	Lak	King wraparound wide	ES	2	15	21	34	42	52	6	22	23	27	32	74
3	15:14	0	1	Lak	Pearson drives wide	ES	2	19	24	26	34	51	10	12	27	32	70	77
3	14:57	0	1	Tor	Holland deflects Rielly shot	ES	19	24	26	34	44	52	10	12	27	32	49	77
3	13:46	0	1	Lak	Brown wraparound	ES	3	15	21	34	42	51	3	8	22	23	32	74
3	12:32	0	1	Lak	Lucic from Kopitar	ES	2	34	40	43	44	47	6	11	17	27	32	73
3	11:55	0	1	Lak	GOAL! Carter from Gaborik	ES	3	19	24	26	34	52	3	8	12	32	70	77
3	09:55	0	2	Tor	GOAL! Holland from Kadri	PP	19	24	34	43	47	51	3	8	11	32	73
3	06:05	1	2	Lak	Gaborik drives wide	ES	2	15	21	34	42	44	6	12	27	32	70	77
3	04:51	1	2	Lak	Brown drives wide	ES	2	23	24	28	34	51	8	10	11	23	32	74
3	03:19	1	2	Lak	Pearson wraparound	ES	3	21	34	42	44	47	3	8	12	32	70	77
3	03:00	1	2	Tor	Boyes from Van Riemsdyk	EN	2	15	21	28	42	51	6	8	11	17	32	73
3	02:06	1	2	Tor	Kadri from Rielly	EN	19	40	43	44	47	51	6	8	17	22	23	32
3	01:09	1	2	Tor	Boyes wide from Gardiner	EN	15	21	28	42	44	51	6	8	11	23	32	74

Leafs Player Data

Player	ESChF	ESChA	ESCh%	ESTOI	ZS%	NZ%	ContEnt	OppContEnt
Winnik	3	3	50.0%	10:28	37.5%	52.6%	30.0%	50.0%
Lupul	3	4	42.9%	11:43	54.6%	55.3%	28.6%	47.1%
Parenteau	3	5	37.5%	16:00	61.5%	39.5%	47.1%	38.5%
Holland	3	5	37.5%	11:47	37.5%	51.3%	25.0%	47.4%
Van Riemsdyk	3	6	33.3%	16:06	61.5%	38.1%	62.5%	38.5%
Bozak	3	7	30.0%	16:17	61.5%	34.9%	46.7%	42.9%
Matthias	0	6	0.0%	07:07	100.0%	50.0%	40.0%	30.0%
Boyes	0	6	0.0%	07:42	100.0%	45.0%	33.3%	36.4%
Arcobello	0	4	0.0%	07:10	100.0%	54.5%	41.7%	20.0%
Grabner	0	2	0.0%	13:03	75.0%	46.8%	27.3%	36.0%
Kadri	0	4	0.0%	16:52	50.0%	53.6%	33.3%	38.5%
Komarov	0	4	0.0%	16:27	50.0%	47.3%	26.9%	41.4%
Polak	0	0	-	05:18	33.3%	47.8%	18.2%	33.3%
Gardiner	4	9	30.8%	21:31	60.0%	53.6%	36.7%	34.6%
Phaneuf	4	10	28.6%	20:13	60.0%	45.0%	44.4%	51.5%
Marincin	1	3	25.0%	10:07	60.0%	51.4%	33.3%	29.4%
Rielly	2	6	25.0%	23:37	58.8%	43.1%	29.0%	39.0%
Hunwick	0	10	0.0%	19:34	50.0%	46.3%	38.7%	44.4%

As with the overall numbers, the player chance numbers paint a very grim picture of the Leafs’ night, as most of the team struggled. The one line that came close to staying even was Daniel Winnik with Peter Holland and Joffrey Lupul, who matched up against Dustin’s Brown line. Those three were the best Leafs forwards in chance differential, and were the only were able to win the neutral zone, although they did not prevent many controlled entries.

Tyler Bozak’s line was shuffled around between assignments, and also managed to generate some offense, but weren’t able to defend effectively.

The bad line was the fourth line, as new arrival Vincent Lecavalier and Michael Mersch were particularly effective against Shawn Matthias, Brad Boyes, and Mark Arcobello. Matthias and Boyes were both a -6 in chances in just seven minutes, despite not getting a defensive zone start. Nazem Kadri’s line, matched against Anze Kopitar, was also not able to produce any chances, but they weren’t as bad defensively as the bottom line.

Roman Polak’s game misconduct left the defensive pairings in some disarray, and put the rest of the team under some serious pressure. Matt Hunwick had the worst of it, finishing a team worst -10 and not on for a single Leaf ES chance in his 19 minutes. Morgan Rielly was able to put up better numbers than his regular partner, and his -4 was the best of any of the high-use defenceman.

Dion Phaneuf and Jake Gardiner, who weren’t nearly as protected as they often have been this season, also had tough nights, but at least they managed to be on for some Leaf offensive chances. Martin Marincin’s -2 was the best on the backend, but one of those chances against turned out to be the winning goal.