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The Maple Leafs‘ lack of offense is becoming a major storyline as the season progresses.

In a game where the Leafs‘ top two lines generated tons of zone time, they ultimately scored just one goal at five-on-five. The team’s bottom six was again close to non-existent offensively.

The result is a 4-2 regulation loss to a mediocre Red Wings team in a game where the Leafs largely shot themselves in the foot. At least they have the opportunity to rebound quickly tomorrow at home against Buffalo.

Your game in 10:

1.   We have been focusing on the Leafs‘ starts to games recently in this space, and tonight’s was actually a relatively strong one. John Tavares won the draw, and the Leafs got the puck deep, establishing a forecheck and some zone time. The Leafs have been on the receiving end of that sequence for five straight games now, so it was a welcome change.

Unfortunately, Max Pacioretty clipped Alex DeBrincat’s knee at the end of the shift as he tried to finish a hit and was penalized for it. For the Leafs, who have an excellent penalty kill, it seemed to work to their advantage. They killed off the penalty (though Detroit did hit the crossbar towards the end) and gained some momentum.

A few shifts after the kill, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and Chris Tanev executed a really good 3v2, but Husso made a great save on Tanev all alone in front. On the shift after, the Tavares line again went to work, dominating in the offensive zone as William Nylander dropped his shoulder and drove to the net, drawing a penalty on Patrick Kane.

A quarter of the way through the period, the Leafs generated some good zone time, created some good looks, killed a penalty, and went to a power play.

Toronto showed a different look on the man advantage; Matthews was standing in front with Tavares in the bumper, Nylander and Marner on the half-walls, and Morgan Rielly up top. The top unit saw 50 seconds of power play time and didn’t register a shot on goal before the second unit hopped the boards and also didn’t put a shot on net. They appeared entirely purposeless, as if they had no clue what they were looking to accomplish or set up in terms of an actual offensive play. It sucked the life out of an otherwise decent start.

2.   A few shifts later, the Red Wings scored off a dominant shift. After the Leafs’ fourth line was hemmed in and Detroit hit the post, they cleared the puck to the neutral zone for a change. The third line hopped the boards with the McCabe-Tanev pairing, and the Red Wings continued to press.

After a missed shot off the rush, the puck rimmed up the wall, Bobby McMann pinned it, and McCabe picked it up, attempting to hit one of Tanev or Domi with a pass in the middle of the ice (the camera didn’t give us a good view). Whoever McCabe was looking for, he didn’t make a good pass; it went for a turnover, and the Red Wings never relinquished possession before scoring.

Fraser Minten twice engaged in battles he didn’t win to regain possession, and the Leafs couldn’t recover the puck following a point shot. Eventually, the Wings cycled it back to the point for a third time. Jeff Petry’s shot deflected off McMann’s stick and went past a screened Joseph Woll, who had no chance.

The 1-0 goal pretty well summed up the third unit in the first period; they were far and away the Leafs’ worst line in the opening frame.

3.    The Leafs generated a good response after falling behind. The Tavares line again hemmed the Wings in their end, and Nylander walked into the slot and put a backhand wide. The Matthews line followed it up; Marner put a good shot on net with Knies in front, but he could not get ahold of the rebound.

Again, the third line went out and gave up a 3v2, but Woll bailed them out by robbing Vladimir Tarasenko on a backdoor look. The Leafs’ fourth line didn’t do much of anything either way, and the third line was a liability, but the top two lines dominated the Wings all period.

On the next Tavares line shift, OEL hit the post and Pacioretty just missed a chance in the slot. It looked like the Leafs had tied it on the next shift following another dominant sequence that led to a Marner shot in the slot, but the Red Wings challenged it for offside and successfully overturned it.

The Leafs probably deserved to end the period with at least a goal and — at worst — a tie game on the scoreboard, but it’s noteworthy that they finished the first period with just six shots on net. It wasn’t for a lack of zone time or control over the play; by and large, they had plenty of both but did not shoot enough. It looked like they were waiting for the perfect shot to appear rather than throwing pucks on net (with traffic) against a goalie who has struggled this season.

4.    A quick note on the Leafs’ disallowed goal: This is the exact type of goal the league should view as an example of the need to update the rule. It was 28 seconds before the goal was scored, and the “offside” was inconsequential to the scoring play. The league shouldn’t want to take goals off the scoreboard unless a violation is egregious or clearly unfair. The game stopped unnecessarily, and they had to put time back on the clock. It only hurts the product. 

5.   The theme of the Leafs’ top two lines dominating play continued in the second period, as Toronto once again started with the Tavares line followed by the Matthews line, and both units created zone time. 

The third line generally continued to struggle, but they did create a glorious chance as McMann took a stretch pass for a breakaway but was robbed. They also gave up a breakaway of sorts to Patrick Kane, who walked in all alone, but Woll made a great save.

Nylander also found Dewar with a great backdoor pass, but Dewar fanned on the shot.

Generally speaking, it was pretty clear that the Leafs were in firm control when the Leafs’ top two lines were on the ice. The fourth line generated some decent energy shifts, but the third line was a problem.  At one point later on in the second, Berube shifted Tavares to play between Domi and McMann, while Minten took a shift between Pacioretty and Nylander.

The Leafs launched 15 shots on net in the second, and through two periods, they clocked over five minutes more zone time than Detroit.

6.   The game started to slow down a bit in terms of the pace through the neutral zone in the second period. There wasn’t a whole lot going on, but the fourth line generated some zone time. When Steven Lorentz threw a puck on goal, Connor Dewar went to the net, where he was cross-checked in the head, drawing a penalty.

Based on the precedent set when Matthews was suspended two games for his cross-check on Rasmus Dahlin, Jonatan Berggren should receive a call from the league, but we aren’t going to hold our breath.

In any event, the Leafs went to the power play, and Marner dominated the shift. He roamed around, cut up high across the top of the circle, faked a shot, and found Matthews, who leaked out for a one-timer finish at the backdoor. It was a beautiful play, driven by Marner and finished by Matthews, and a huge goal for a much-maligned power play unit that came into the game a paltry 4-for-30 on the road.

7.   After tying the game, the Leafs controlled the play by and large, generating several really good shifts, including a dominant fourth-line shift where they won numerous battles, cycled, and created some chaos in front. It led to an offensive-zone faceoff with just over a minute left in the period, and the Leafs sent out their top line, who conceded a goal on a super sloppy shift.

On the Red Wings’ initial entry, the Leafs regained possession, but Knies fanned on an attempt to flip the puck out. The Leafs were able to regain possession, though, and Tanev hit Matthews with a pass in the middle of the ice that Matthews received quite casually; he ended up kicking the puck to the Red Wings, who countered and scored on a tic-tac-toe goal with 18 seconds left in the period.

Watching the live feed, it was unfathomable that Marner was so far behind and out of the play when the Red Wings scored, considering where he was positioned on the ice when the turnover happened. These are stars in their prime, on the road, late in the second period of a tie game, and they were super casual and got burned for a goal against. It was inexcusable.

8.    Unlike the first two periods, the final frame started with the Leafs giving up a great chance right in the slot, but Woll made a big save on Rasmussen, who had time and space alone in front. It was a particularly big save, given the Leafs scored on the next shift.

Matthews won the offensive-zone faceoff, Marner pulled high, and Matthews and Knies went to the net for a double screen. Marner floated a good shot through traffic, to which Knies applied a really good tip, bouncing it hard off the ice and making it impossible for any goalie to read the bounce.

It was Knies’ 11th goal of the season, just four off his total from all of last season, and Marner’s second primary assist of the night. It’s a good response from the top line after the way their previous shift ended late in the second period.

9.   44 seconds after the Leafs tied it, the Red Wings retook the lead.

Tyler Motte burned Simon Benoit in the neutral zone, leading to an odd-man rush and a breakdown. It’s a really bad beat by Benoit against a player in Motte who had one point in 16 games entering tonight’s contest. Timmins slid behind the net, and when the puck came out to the slot, Tavares didn’t shoot it out hard enough, instead putting it on the Red Wings’ tape. Woll made the initial save, but the rebound was a tap-in.

Between the goal against to end the second period and this shift after their tying goal, there were a lot of self-inflicted wounds for the Leafs in this game against an opponent they are objectively much better than.

10.   Multiple penalties stalled the Leafs’ attempt to tie the game. The penalty kill did a good job against a Red Wings unit that entered the game eighth in the league. In between penalties, Marner also went on a clear breakaway off a stretch pass from Dewar, but he was denied when he tried to open up Husso and slide it five-hole.

When the Leafs finished taking and killing penalties, they had really tough time creating clean looks. As the Red Wings sat back and boxed out the house, the Leafs were too content to handle it on the perimeter instead of shooting it to the net with traffic.

When their goalie was pulled in the final few minutes, the Leafs had multiple attempts blocked — notably, a Marner shot from the point and a Nylander one-timer didn’t make it through.

The Leafs ended up with an offensive-zone faceoff win afterward, and I have no clue what they were attempting to do. Matthews refused to take a one-timer and passed it back to Nylander up high, where Nylander tried to rip a backside pass to Marner, who literally jumped. They won a faceoff with the goalie pulled, only for Rielly to take a wrist shot from the boards. The Red Wings ended up scoring an empty netter.

Outside of their top two lines, the Leafs are receiving no contributions offensively; Max Domi is now at 22 games and counting without a goal, and their top players are not ruthless in possession right now, either. Matthews can’t pass up the one-timer in the final seconds, and Nylander had enough time and space up top to shoot.

The Red Wings were 22nd in the league in goals against per game at 3.17 entering tonight’s game, but the Leafs scored just twice.

Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts

Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts

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