While the losing streak versus Montreal lives on, the Toronto Maple Leafs had nothing to hang their heads about after a good effort at the Bell Centre on Saturday night.
The Leafs carried the edge in play for the majority of the first two periods and led 39-26 in shot attempts, yet they found themselves unable to solve Carey Price and down 1-0 after 40 minutes. Six minutes into the second period, a poorly-timed step up in the neutral zone by Morgan Rielly led to an odd-man situation for the Habs, and Alex Radulov found Alex Galchenyuk at the back post to put Montreal in front.
The Leafs fought back on the powerplay courtesy of a Nazem Kadri redirect, set up by a perfect pass from William Nylander, early in the third period.
Great pass from Nylander to Kadri. Leafs tied it up 1-1 on the powerplay pic.twitter.com/BEQwGYmYhY
— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) October 30, 2016
By the end of the 60 minutes, the gap in shot attempts had been reduced significantly to 49-44. The Canadiens, the best third-period team in the league so far this season, came on strong following the Leaf goal, controlling 65% of the even-strength shot attempts and winning the game on a 4-on-3 powerplay.
Connor Carrick, having lost his positioning in the offensive zone during four-on-four hockey, was burned by Max Pacioretty and forced into a hooking penalty. The Leafs’ penalty killing units did not seem to have much of a plan drawn up to prevent Shea Weber from teeing up 100mph howitzers at will. It felt like a matter of time before the goal eventually came.
A late Leaf push was no answer for Carey Price as the Canadiens extended their winning streak against the Leafs to 11.
Notes
– William Nylander was a factor nearly every shift. Carrying the puck with supreme confidence, turning on a dime to shed defenders along the boards, slipping through cracks to evade checks, pickpocketing a guy for a breakaway chance, and setting up the Leafs‘ lone goal — Nylander was the best player on the ice, arguably for either team, and could have had three or four points with a little more puck luck (the Zach Hyman crossbar)/a lesser adversary in goal. 61.54 CF% on the evening.
Nylander has looked excellent with the puck on his stick tonight. pic.twitter.com/tNAJEChhXN
— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) October 30, 2016
– Nazem Kadri was engaged in the game physically, made a couple of nice rushes, and was used as the matchup center against the Pacioretty, Deharnais and Shaw line whenever Babcock could get the changes he wanted. Quietly, Kadri is pacing for a little over 60 points — it’s early days, sure, but he’s on-pace for a career high despite playing a tough role for the team.
– Auston Matthews drew two penalties in the first, and had one good rush late where he generated a rebound off the far pad of Price, but he was quiet at even strength and finished up at just a 38% CF. Nylander has had a lot of touches the past couple of games as the puck carrier through neutral zone for this line; you’d like to see Matthews with more carries and more time with the puck on his stick. The two have been a great match in some sense, but you wonder if Nylander could center his own line with that way he’s been playing lately. At the very least, when an injury happens down the middle, Babcock has an easy solution at his disposal. Nylander looks more than capable of carrying his own line at the moment.
– Leo Komarov was mostly a non-factor offensively and he wasn’t his usual physical self. The Maple Leafs needed a big game from Leo if they were to be able to beat Price. Without a tonne of net-front presence options — perhaps only him, Zach Hyman and, to a lesser degree, James van Riemsdyk — to take away the goalie’s eyes, Leo having a very quiet game didn’t do his team any favours. He was, however, the leading Maple Leaf in terms of driving possession with a 65.22CF% at even strength. Snake eyes on his box score for the second game in a row, and he wasn’t credited with one hit in 14:39 of ice time.
– Martin Marincin, after some rough outings to start the year, had arguably his best outing of the season so far – efficient with his first pass, and utilizing his long reach to close gaps and break up plays. He certainly, and unsurprisingly, looks more comfortable on the left. The Leafs still have a distance to go defensively, but their defence, as a group of six, had one of its better outings of the season in terms of executing clean zone exits.
– Frederik Andersen‘s comfort and confidence level in the net looks to be building itself back up over the last two games. He didn’t have much of a chance on either goal against.
Game In Six
Canadiens 2 vs. Leafs 1 – Even Strength Shot Attempts
Canadiens 2 vs. Leafs 1 – Shot Locations
