The Maple Leafs dropped their third consecutive game, largely due to another leaky start. The Leafs have conceded seven goals in the first periods of their three consecutive losses.
In the early stages of this game, Jake McCabe whiffed on a clearing attempt, resulting in a 2v1 that forced Anthony Stolarz to make a pair of great saves. Not long afterward, Philippe Myers took a bad hooking penalty; there was no imminent threat, but he reached into the hands for a near-automatic call. On the ensuing 5v4, the Bruins benefitted from a bounce, as David Pastrnak sent the puck into the bumper, where it took a vicious deflection off Pavel Zacha’s skate and into the far side of the net.
Moments later, McCabe took another avoidable slashing penalty. This time, however, the Leafs struck thanks to a gift from Charlie McAvoy, who committed an egregious turnover in his own zone that was seized on by Steven Lorentz, who ripped one past Jeremy Swayman — a big shorthanded goal for a player (Lorentz) who was healthy scratched after a costly third-period turnover in the loss to the Bruins on Saturday.
Unfortunately, the parade in the penalty box continued for the Leafs, as with 12 seconds remaining in the McCabe penalty, Simon Benoit was called for a high stick. The Bruins restored the lead after Hampus Lindholm flicked a fairly innocent-looking shot over the glove of Stolarz, who was too deep in his crease and at worst only partially screened. It has to be stopped, and it was a harbinger of things to come from the Leafs‘ netminder.
In the final few moments of the opening frame, the Leafs were guilty of punting pucks around their own zone again; first, McCabe and Bobby McMann combined for a turnover, and then Brandon Carlo sent the puck up the boards to no one for a giveaway. Old friend Alex Steeves circled and somehow beat Stolarz clean through the five-hole. Dennis Hildeby took over for the start of the second period, with Stolarz ruled out with an upper-body injury, although there was a strong case for a second consecutive pull regardless.
In the first 49 seconds of the second period, the Bruins created a couple of grade-A chances. The first came on a rebound they were unable to bury, and the second was a Pastrnak breakaway due to a bewildering Morgan Rielly read, allowing one of the best goal-scorers on the planet in clear behind him to make it 4-1 Boston. More cheap rush offense against the Leafs put this game into a very difficult position to take anything from, all inside 21 minutes.
The rush opportunities/breakaways against remain horrifying, but the scariest development of the second period was Auston Matthews leaving the game with a lower-body injury after a hit from behind by Nikita Zadorov. There was no immediate response on the ice, besides from Matthews himself, who took a bit of a run at Zadorov before leaving the game.
Despite Matthews’ absence, the Leafs started to show some pushback as the period progressed and gave themselves a chance entering the third, thanks to a power-play marker from Bobby McMann late in the middle frame. It was a nice backhand finish in tight off a Max Domi pass down low.
Early in the third, it was officially game on. Nick Robertson recovered a puck down low after Tanner Jeannot took a spill in the corner, found Oliver Ekman-Larsson up top, and a weird shot by OEL fooled Swayman from distance.
In addition to chipping away at the deficit on the scoreboard, the Leafs showed some notable physical pushback in the final frame. McMann dropped Hampus Lindholm with a solid hit, drawing a crowd and earning McMann an interference penalty. Sammy Blais took a healthy run at Charlie McAvoy, earning himself a kneeing call. As for Zadorov, who injured two Leafs in the home-and-home set (including the Leafs’ best player/captain) and also crushed Nick Robertson, Domi took an opportunity to shove him into his own goalie and apply some cross-checks before attempting to drop the gloves with an unwilling participant, leading to a roughing call.
Given the damage Zadorov inflicted on the Leafs in this home-and-home, it was arguably the type of penalty the team should rally around. However, for the third time in the game, the Leafs didn’t get the kill. Simon Benoit should’ve cleared it, but he didn’t get his clearing attempt airborne, so it was kept in at the line. The pass across went through Myers, and Pastrnak made no mistake to put the game pretty much out of reach. Just 38 minutes of this game were played at five-on-five — easily a season-low for the Leafs — and the PK could not keep them in the game.
Post-Game Notes
– Anthony Stolarz is struggling with simple shots low along the ice right now. He was beaten by a low, flat point shot from Mikhail Sergachev against Utah, beaten along the ice by both Morgan Geekie and Michael Eyssimont against the Bruins on Saturday, and this was yet another example from Steeves tonight. The last thing a fragile Leafs team needed tonight was two deflating goals in the first period. Simply not good enough.
If Stolarz isn’t good to go for Thursday, Dennis Hildeby has given the team everything it could realistically expect, despite getting thrown to the wolves against Carolina and thrown into two difficult relief situations due to Stolarz’s struggles against Boston.
– It’s a major head-scratcher that Philippe Myers was still in the lineup in this game. For all his struggles moving pucks out of his zone, it’s not like the Leafs are getting any notable trade-offs with his size/physicality or penalty killing. Craig Berube cited handedness/not wanting five lefties in the lineup, but at a certain point, when a player is struggling this mightily, handedness goes out the window in favour of someone who can take a semi-competent shift. Myers played just 10:31 tonight, so whatever lefty-righty balance he helps with doesn’t matter if he can’t be trusted to the point where Mike Van Ryn drops him out of the rotation and mixes and matches with his remaining four lefties and one righty.
– It’s a small moral victory, but at least the Leafs didn’t quit at 4-1 down and with Auston Matthews and Stolarz out of the game. It would’ve been extremely concerning if they went quietly into the night without any physical pushback or display of pride, after losing to these Bruins on Saturday, a brutal game against Carolina, trailing tonight, and losing two players to injury (Laughton + Matthews) due to Zadorov’s hits. It won’t count for much, though, if they don’t come out like gangbusters on Thursday against LA.
– Matthew Knies is off to a productive start to the year, but it is too bad that he had two point-blank, grade-A chances on his stick to tie it (or pull within one) in critical moments of the third periods of the last two games and couldn’t bury either of them.
– Bobby McMann deserves a nod for his overall play and high score on the give-a-shit meter during this losing slide. He stepped in against Zadorov on Saturday after the Laughton hit, set up a Tavares goal against Carolina, stepped in against Alexis Legault after Legault took liberties with Robertson against the Hurricanes, scored a big power-play goal tonight, and dropped Lindholm with a big hit.
– The fourth line has been a bit of a revolving door, and there was a lot of shuffling going on tonight, but Steven Lorentz and Max Domi both impacted the scoresheet on special teams, and their line with Blais was up 6-0 in shots on goal at five-on-five. It may not remain together for Thursday, though, depending on Matthews’ status, as it might necessitate moving Domi up.
– Every single season, we’re reminded that a team can never have too much NHL-calibre center depth. Fingers crossed for Matthews re: Thursday and beyond, and we’re yet to hear about a timeline for Laughton, but is it too late to repair things with David Kampf? Notably, both Laughton (when healthy) and Matthews are also contributors on the PK, and suddenly, the Leafs look like they could use some help there.
Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts
Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts
