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The Toronto Maple Leafs let another extra point slip in their fifth shootout loss of the season on Thursday night against Arizona.


Your game in ten:

1)   The improbable run of three consecutive posts in the shootout was a clear indication that something larger was at work. If you’ve been a Leafs fan for any time at all, you knew it was going to be a Peter Holland shootout winner.

2)   Let’s not allow that to detract too much from a pretty special moment for Auston Matthews scoring against his childhood team. It would’ve been an amazing storybook ending had he scored the game winner after plucking the feed from William Nylander out of mid-air in overtime (he also batted down a pass on the backcheck to negate an odd-man rush for the Coyotes not long before his goal). Remember, he passed up a burgeoning baseball career to be here today.

3)   It’s something that only comes with experience and an improved roster, but you can see that the killer instinct isn’t there yet with this Leaf team. They thoroughly dominated the first 20 minutes (21-7 in shots) and scored a deserved goal at the end of the first. Then came a let off at the start of the second where they gave it right back; Morgan Rielly was completely puck focused on the play and managed to leave two Coyotes alone in front. There were a couple of tough penalty calls that hurt the Leafs following the 1-1 goal, leading to the 2-1 goal on a 5-on-3, but the Coyotes generated 12 shot attempts to the Leafs’ 7 at even strength over the first 12 minutes of the second.

4)   With a strong push to end regulation time, it was another game where the Leafs nearly broke into the 90s in overall shot attempts (88) but couldn’t solve a hot goalie. There’s a moral victory in that — and surely the Leafs go off for more than two goals in a game here soon — but the dropped points the past few nights hurt, especially knowing that Pittsburgh is up next on Saturday. While they’ve picked up a number of loser points along the way, the Leafs have won just one game in their last seven. Among those seven, they’ve played Calgary, Arizona, Colorado and Vancouver. Not good enough.

5)   Even with the Matthews goal, it’s hard to describe the powerplay as a success last night knowing the Leafs passed up a 5-on-3 opportunity late in the second without registering a shot on goal (granted, William Nylander missed three wide/high on that powerplay alone), and especially after witnessing the top unit barely get out of their own zone on the first powerplay opportunity of the night. In the past month, the Leafs PP has clicked at just 15% — tied for 25th in the NHL since November 16. They aren’t setting up one-timer opportunities — it was particularly glaring on the 5 on 3 — and that’s allowing shot blockers to get into lanes and goalies to get set.

6)    Zach Hyman has had the puck on his stick quite a bit lately and he’s playing with confidence in possession. It feels like he has at least two wraparound attempts each game. He’s also had a couple of breakaways over the past few games as he’s been able to leave the zone early undetected/sneak through the cracks of the defence. He needs a lot of chances in order to score, but he’s also creating a lot of them through his own heads-up play and hard work.

7)   Interesting note: Holland led the Coyotes’ centermen in even strength ice time.

8)   A bounceback game from Mitch Marner, who bore down on his chance on his breakaway and subsequently looked confident tearing through the neutral zone on a couple of occasions. It remains a struggle on the halfwall of the powerplay for him; for a player who processes the game as well as just about anyone on the ice, for whatever reason he’s playing a little slow on the man advantage. His passes have been mistimed, or a little too far in front/behind of his target. The 11-game goalless slump is over, though, and that should be a weight off.

9)   This was a tough game for a goalie to play in from the Leaf perspective. They didn’t give up many shots and there were some long periods without any action, yet there were some critical breakdowns leading to a collection of breakaways and odd-man rushes. Andersen responded with aplomb and now has allowed two goals or less in 10 of his last 11. The breakaway save with four minutes remaining was a game saver, to state the obvious. This is totally unquantifiable, but it always felt as though Jonathan Bernier was better in games where the Leafs got shelled with shots and worse in games where he had to come up with a crucial save against the run of play. Andersen has been good in both situations.

10)   Somewhat bizarre given the game was pretty exciting – the OT was arguably the most fun five minutes of Leaf hockey this season – but seventh defenceman Frank Corrado dominated much of the discussion after the game due to Babcock’s comments in his presser. This is a unique and particularly odd situation – Corrado has been on the NHL roster the whole time, yet he’s been a healthy scratch for 71 of the team’s last 111 games. It’s hard to fault the player here for speaking out. He has to be right up against his breaking point in terms of feeling like his career is in jeopardy. He’s been as patient as could be reasonably expected (and then some).

Whether you agree or disagree with Babcock’s preference for one replacement level sixth/seventh defenceman over another because one brings veteran presence to a young team and can play the penalty kill, it shouldn’t be the source of major debate. As Babcock said about the Peter Holland situation, sometimes the fit isn’t there and it doesn’t work out. The controversial part is that the team is hesitant to move on and set the player loose. You wonder how much of it has to do with the Leafs feeling as though they don’t have NHL depth at the D position beyond Corrado. Martin Marincin is out hurt and apparently will be for a while. Another injury would put them in a bad spot.

On the Marlies, Viktor Loov and Rinat Valiev have a smattering of NHL experience but both have struggled at times this season. Both are left-handed, too. There may well not be anyone in the system right now that is ready for a regular NHL shift in the eyes of management.

But that headache seems preferable to the one created by holding a discontented player hostage. The whole thing is getting tiresome. He either needs to get into a game again soon or he has to be moved along.


Game In Six


All Situations Shot Attempts


Shot Locations


Post Game: Mike Babcock