The Toronto Maple Leafs visit the Philadelphia Flyers tonight (7 p.m., TSN4) looking to halt their losing slide before it equals a season-high of six straight losses back in October.
There’s no doubting where the issues have stemmed from for Toronto, as the doom and gloom predictions following JVR’s injury have come true so far to the tune of four goals in three games since his injury. Dating back to the Los Angeles and San Jose games (which both included JVR), the team has just five goals in their last five.
Leo Komarov and Shawn Matthias both broke scoring slumps of ten and seven games respectively versus the Boston Bruins on Saturday, but Tyler Bozak and Joffrey Lupul haven’t scored in nine, Nazem Kadri and PA Parenteau are goalless in their last five, Michael Grabner is without a point in six consecutive, and Dion Phaneuf and Jake Gardiner haven’t scored in seven (and have one goal in their last 25 and 28, respectively).
The Leafs‘ powerplay hasn’t scored in fourteen attempts, prompting some new personnel groups in pratice:
Leafs struggling PP sporting different look today:
PP1: Phaneuf/Rielly/Parenteau/Bozak/Boyes
PP2: Rielly/Gardiner/Komarov/Holland/Lupul— Jonas Siegel (@jonassiegel) January 18, 2016
As discussed at the start of the season, the Leafs‘ PK struggles from October had a better chance of improving than their early powerplay struggles did. That’s rung true so far, as the Leafs PK hovers around middle of the pack with an 80% kill rate while the powerplay has returned to the bottom five at 16.9%. As was the case in October, this isn’t on powerplay coach Jim Hiller — the Leafs are second in the League in unblocked shot attempts per 60 minutes at 5v4 — it’s simply a matter of talent, exacerbated lately by JVR’s absence (the Leafs went 0 for 5 versus Boston).
Tonight’s opponent, the Philadelphia Flyers, are a bottom five team in penalty killing, which may present the Leafs PP an opportunity to get off the schneid. Philadelphia is hot lately, however; with a 6-3-1 record in their last ten, the Flyers are within striking distance of a playoff spot, sitting just two points out of the second wildcard position with three games in hand on the Montreal Canadiens.
James Reimer, second in the league in save percentage at .934, is expected to start in net for the Leafs tonight. That’s one area where the Leafs have not struggled of late, as Reimer and Bernier have been doing their jobs all things considered.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lines
Shawn Matthias – Tyler Bozak – PA Parenteau
Michael Grabner – Nazem Kadri – Leo Komarov
Joffrey Lupul – Peter Holland – Brad Boyes
Daniel Winnik – Byron Froese – Rich Clune
Matt Hunwick – Morgan Rielly
Jake Gardiner – Dion Phaneuf
Martin Marincin – Roman Polak
James Reimer
Jonathan Bernier
Injured: James van Riemsdyk (foot), Nick Spaling (upper body), Stephane Robidas (lower body)
Scratched: Frank Corrado, Josh Leivo
Philadelphia Flyers Projected Lines
Jakub Voracek – Claude Giroux – Wayne Simmonds
Michael Raffl – Sean Couturier – Brayden Schenn
Chris VandeVelde – Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Ryan White
Matt Read – Scott Laughton – R.J. Umberger
Michael Del Zotto – Radko Gudas
Nick Schultz – Mark Streit
Evgeny Medvedev – Shayne Gostisbehere
Steve Mason
Michal Neuvirth
Injured: None
Scratched: Brandon Manning, Jordan Weal
