The Maple Leafs’ power play continued to make up for lost points earlier in the season by scoring twice in this fairly uneventful 3-1 win over the Red Wings.
Despite not scoring a single five-on-five goal, the Leafs‘ 6-for-11 man advantage has powered them to a 2-0-1 record in their last three games.
Your game in 10:
1. Nick Robertson has one point—a goal— in 13 games this season, and it came with seven minutes left in a game the Leafs were losing 6-1 in Columbus. Two minutes into this game, it looked like he bumped the monkey off his back.
Bobby McMann‘s nice net drive off the right wing was an example of what the Leafs need from him consistently: using his size and speed to go north, drive inside on defenders, and go hard to the net. Unfortunately, he was a little overzealous and bumped the goalie, negating Robertson’s goal—which Cam Talbot probably wasn’t stopping even without the contact, but it was technically the correct call.
Regardless of whether it counted, maybe seeing one go in will help Robertson on his way, as he did a good job of following up on the play, stopping in the right spot, and finishing. He and his line with McMann and Pontus Holmberg were effective the rest of the game, recording a team-high 14 shot attempts at 5v5 in a low-event hockey game. Robertson also drew the penalty that led to the 1-0 goal — his team-high seventh drawn penalty, which is also top-10 league-wide.
2. The Hall-of-Fame game has been known to feature some dud Leafs performances over the years. While they thankfully played well enough to get the result tonight, it was hard to ignore just how eyes-glazed-over boring this game was for large spells of the night. Maybe it was the weak opponent, or maybe it was the delay in getting started after the warmups due to the ceremony, but there was little intensity or physical investment. It didn’t help that the ice surface again appeared substandard, causing a lot of broken plays.
Expected goals finished at just 1.4-1.35 for the Leafs over the 52:16 of five-on-five time. Interestingly, the Leafs have posted three of their four lowest xGF numbers of the season in their last three games, and they went 2-0-1 vs. Boston, Minnesota, and Detroit. There is not much happening whatsoever in these games at five-on-five (two of the three did not include Matthews in the lineup), and defensively, Craig Berube will be pleased with how his team is making opponents go through five to create any offensive looks and is defending their net well. Offensively, they need to generate more at five-on-five, but the power play finally turning it around has earned all of the five points in those three games.
3. Speaking of the power play, Mitch Marner read and navigated the Detroit entry defense skillfully for the 1-0 Toronto goal. We’ve seen the handoff to the wall stuffed a lot in the first month, but Marner just kept it and found a pocket of space in the middle before connecting with William Nylander for a goal right up the middle of the Detroit defense. The goal looked like a byproduct of Marner and the power play finally relaxing (now that it’s put some pucks in the net), playing less robotically, and just letting the high-end skill take over when there is a play to be made out there.
"MARNER TIDIES UP THE GARBAGE!"
Marner 3rd of the Season vs Red Wings courtesy of @Bonsie1951 and @Jim_Ralph. @LeafsJelly pic.twitter.com/yZ3pCLwmBw
— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) November 9, 2024
4. With the game meandering along toward the midway point in the second period, you could feel something bad building for the Maple Leafs due to a litany of sloppy turnovers on the breakout. Max Domi didn’t keep his feet moving and turned one over in the middle of the defensive zone (turnovers were a problem for Domi throughout the game). Chris Tanev uncharacteristically whiffed on a chance to put a puck in deep. John Tavares then threw one away up the wall. Later in the shift, Oliver Ekman-Larsson tried a blind touch pass in the middle of his own slot, which led to Tavares losing the puck in his feet before taking a hooking penalty. The game was downright ugly at times. The Tavares hooking penalty led to the tying goal.
5. The PK started with David Kampf and Marner as the starting forward duo, as has become the rotation with Matthews out. It started without issue, but when Pontus Holmberg–Matthew Knies came over the boards, Knies (who had an off night amid a really consistently effective start to the season) didn’t get good wood on a clearance opportunity. Holmberg got caught guessing the puck would go to the point instead of closing down the half-wall puck carrier/remaining in position to negate the bumper play. Larkin was free to take an open pass and measure a shot into the far corner.
Not to pick on the player on a night when his line was effective at five-on-five, but Holmberg has to get the details right as a player with one point in 12 games (minus five). He’s contributed to far too many goals against, including several on the PK this season, without giving the team anything the other way.
6. The Leafs quickly answered with their second power-play goal of the game after the Red Wings gifted a too-many-men penalty. It came off a broken play where an attempted Mitch Marner pass for a Nylander one-timer was broken up. John Tavares jumped on the loose puck and showed why he’s still a 30+-goal threat, even if he’s lost a step with time. He’s really heavy on his stick; it flies off the stick blade when Tavares leans on one, and it’s always difficult for goalies to read a shot on the turn.
Tavares 6th of the Season vs Red Wings courtesy of @Bonsie1951 and @Jim_Ralph. @LeafsJelly pic.twitter.com/ZWR02zRCxp
— Maple Leafs Hotstove (@LeafsNews) November 9, 2024
It might look like a lucky primary assist for Marner when watching the goal itself, but it was fully deserved. The play broke down on the entry initially, but his second effort to strip the puck loose on the wall made the whole goal sequence possible. Commendably, Marner has found another level to his play since Matthews went down and has really driven the bus in all situations.
7. The third period showed 4-2 shots for Detroit in the first 16 minutes of play in a 2-1 game (did we mention this was a flat hockey game, and Detroit isn’t good?). From a Leafs perspective, there wasn’t a major push to pad the lead, but they did not give up much. When they did, Anthony Stolarz was there (even if his blocker and stick weren’t).
As the clock wound down in the final five minutes with a one-goal lead, Craig Berube sent out Kampf with McMann and Holmberg for a shift. On the backend, Mike Van Ryn sent out McCabe with Rielly and Tanev with OEL, looking to make sure one of his go-to shutdown defensemen was on the ice at all times.
The close-out effort didn’t lead to anything worrying from the Leafs perspective before the Red Wings’ Moritz Seider basically handed the empty-netter to Tavares for his second of the game a few seconds after Cam Talbot left the net (not to take away from Tavares’ finish, which was nice).
8. Speaking of shutdown efforts, it was 24:29 for Jake McCabe tonight, with Chris Tanev not far behind at 22:27. The pair has been a major difference-maker for the Leafs, winning their minutes 5-3 in goals and 64% in xGF so far this season.
Again, they gave up very little to the other team’s top line at five-on-five, conceding just two scoring chances (one high-danger) to the Debrincat – Larkin – Kane line and winning those minutes overall. They exit the zone clean and keep the front of their net clean. There isn’t much stress for the Leafs when this pair is on the ice right now.
If you look at the splits for the McMann – Holmberg – Robertson third line (which had a good night), they were 15-10 overall in shot attempts. They were 9-1 with McCabe and Tanev on the ice as the coaching staff often looked to support that line with their most reliable D pairing throughout the night (~5.5 mins of their 8:55 at five-on-five).
9. There’s always a symbiotic relationship between team environment/team defense and goaltending performance, and it is noteworthy that as great as Anthony Stolarz has been, he’s 22nd among NHL goalies with six or more starts in high-danger save percentage (.793). He’s second in low-danger save percentage (.983). He’s making the saves he should better than just about any goalie, plus the occasional big, timely one when needed (as he did with four minutes left in this one). The Leafs are also putting him in positions to succeed by and large.
Stolarz’s battle level is winning over a lot of fans and receiving big ovations from the home crowd. He checks a lot of boxes for us non-goalie experts — massive, athletic, calm, good economy of movement, and a “do whatever to keep it out” gamer quality when in scramble mode. He’s stood in there really well when he’s taken some hits or pile-ups (including what should’ve been a goalie interference call in the first period).
10. This wasn’t the team’s A game, but the Leafs moved to 37-19-2 all-time without Matthews and 2-0 without him this week, as they’ve buttoned it down defensively and the power play has surged back to life at just the right time. After losing their first two to division opponents (a problem last year), the Leafs have started this slate of four straight inside the Atlantic with two wins. They now owe the Habs an HNIC loss tomorrow after the season opener got away from them.
Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts
Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts
