The Blue Jays are off to a dream start to the World Series, but the Maple Leafs are officially under .500 now, and it’s not looking so rosy in Leafland.
This game was a whirlwind from the start.
Just five minutes and one second into the game, it was already 1-1. Mattias Samuelsson opened the scoring after the Sabres pushed the puck up ice on a Leafs line change. Multiple Leafs were covering one Sabre in the defensive zone; first, Dakota Joshua and Philippe Myers covered Alex Tuch on the entry, and then Easton Cowan and Mermis covered Josh Doan in front. That meant Cowan’s man — Samuelsson — was wide open, and he buried a nice pass from Ryan McLeod.
Just 23 seconds later, Nylander tied the game on a breakaway off a nice flip pass by OEL. Nylander didn’t beat him clean as the puck trickled through Alex Lyon, but as we have seen over the years, Nylander is money on a breakaway — and he was flying in this game.
Unfortunately, just over a minute afterward, the Sabres scored. Again, it was a bad breakdown from the Leafs defensively. It took the Sabres one stretch pass from their own zone to create a 3v2, and they went tic-tac-toe for an easy goal. The Leafs‘ forwards aren’t tracking defensively at all right now, leading to major breakdowns.
Once again, though, the Leafs battled back. This time, it was courtesy of a power-play goal as Tavares set up Matthews for a one-timer that he blew by Lyon. It was the kind of play that you watch and wonder why the Leafs don’t do it more often; Matthews has developed a good one-timer, but he doesn’t use it nearly enough. On this occasion, the pass was in the wheelhouse, and Matthews made no mistake.
It felt like the Leafs were about to relinquish the lead once again when they took consecutive penalties in the span of two seconds, sending the Sabres to a 5-on-3. Instead, the Sabres didn’t even record a shot on net. It was a really good kill by the Leafs, led by Jake McCabe, who played the whole PK and was credited with four shot blocks.
Somewhat like the last game against New Jersey, the Leafs left the first period not necessarily in love with their play, but they were fine with the score and could view it as something to build off of into the second period… only to be outscored in the second period again. The Leafs are the worst second-period team in the league so far this season, and it’s a game-after-game pattern at this point.
The first Sabres goal in the second period was the result of poor tracking. The Sabres had the puck in their defensive zone, and the Leafs should be in complete control of this situation, defensively speaking:
Instead, #20 ripped a cross-ice pass to #72, and the Sabres went down on a 3v2 in which Knies didn’t track back to Tage Thompson properly and watched him beat Stolarz cleanly in the slot.
Later on, the Sabres doubled their lead when Max Domi and Calle Jarnkrok both were sucked in by Peyton Krebs somehow. That meant someone was open, and Steven Lorentz — caught in no-man’s land — wasn’t sure who to cover on the back side between Thompson and Samuelsson. The Sabres ripped a cross-ice pass that allowed Samuelsson to take his time, walk in, and score. It was a weak sequence defensively from what’s supposed to be a veteran line.
Before the period was through, the teams exchanged posts. Josh Doan hit one on a weird fluke play from behind the net, and Nic Roy rang the iron at the other end after he powered in front from behind the net and created a little space in the slot. Matias Maccelli also had a chance all alone, but a weird deflection off Rasmus Dahlin forced it onto the post.
The Leafs got one back almost immediately to start the third period when Dakota Joshua scored just under two minutes into the frame. Roy and Joshua mustered a good forecheck leading to a turnover, and Roy centered a pass to Joshua, whose shot deflected back to him. Joshua banged it into the empty net to bring the Leafs within one.
The Leafs pushed as the period went along, but, unfortunately, William Nylander got hurt. He returned for a shift but couldn’t continue, and not only did it mess up the Leafs’ lines yet again, but when they went to a power play, Nylander wasn’t available.
Maccelli, in Nylander’s place, was robbed on a one-timer in close (you have to raise the puck in the NHL!). Moments later, OEL floated a brutal, telegraphed pass that the Sabres jumped on, went down on a 2v1, and scored to effectively seal the game. It was a terrible pass by OEL and something that has plagued the Leafs so far this season: easy chances against while on the power play.
Post-Game Notes
– The major concern right now is William Nylander’s health. Plain and simple, the Leafs aren’t good enough for him to go down. He didn’t finish the game, and it was one in which he was easily their best player before he went down.
– The McMann–Matthews–Nylander line was effective, as you should expect it to be. They scored, carried shot attempts, and created real zone time. If you’re looking for positives, it was a promising start.
– The other line that looked really good: the Dakota Joshua–Nic Roy–Easton Cowan line, who also scored. Roy hit the post, and they generated some heavy shifts by grinding the puck in the offensive zone and creating some chances. Roy played a season-high 15:11, while Joshua scored his first as a Leaf.
– The only line that was out-attempted at 5v5 was the Knies-Tavares-Maccelli unit, although the count was a modest 10-12. Knies missed a breakaway from center, trying a five-hole finish that I’ve never seen from him before (and hopefully won’t ever again). It wasn’t even close. The line had some flashes, but it really needs Maccelli to carry the puck, and they need Knies to simply play better. Knies is putting up points, but he isn’t driving play well enough or creating enough offense.
– The Leafs’ fourth line was outscored off a poor breakdown, and Max Domi took a penalty at five-on-five. It’s a weird line that was hard to envision serving any purpose once it was put together. It played like one, too.
– Dakota Mermis really struggled in this game and played just 13:12. He looked unsure of where to go defensively and wasn’t adding much of anything with the puck. He was on for a couple of goals against early on, and the Leafs’ coaching staff really limited his ice time afterward. Philippe Myers didn’t fare much better, playing 14:05 and finishing -3.
– Oliver Ekman-Larsson played a whopping 25:50 and picked up two points, but he also had the pass that led to the Sabres icing the game. He’s up to seven points in eight games to start this season, so he has been very productive. OEL played over 12 minutes with Carlo, and the pairing looked good. They won their minutes 2-1 and even carried shot attempts — a rarity for Carlo, in particular, since he put on a Leafs jersey. It was nice to see OEL back on the left and Carlo with a different partner.
– The Simon Benoit – Jake McCabe pairing was steady, almost like you remember it from a few years ago. They weren’t on for any goals against (or for), and basically just played solid minutes along with some physicality. McCabe looked good on the right, as we’ve become accustomed to.
– It was easy to look at those pairings and think you might want to keep them and put Morgan Rielly – Chris Tanev together when they return. Hopefully, that’s sooner rather than later.
– The defense is going to take a lot of heat, but the forwards have been a disaster defensively. They are bleeding odd-man rushes, and in this game, it had nothing to do with the defense until the fifth goal. There were constant 3v2s for Buffalo, as the Leafs’ forwards were often beaten with one simple pass.
– It’s understandable why Anthony Stolarz had enough and called out the team, but when you speak up, you need to back it up. He’s let in four and now five goals in back-to-back games since those comments. Did he make some good saves along the way? Yes. Were all the goals his fault? No. But at the end of the day, when you speak up, you better come to play, and he hasn’t been great.
Game Flow: 5v5 Shot Attempts
Heat Map: 5v5 Shot Attempts
Game Highlights: Sabres 5 vs. Maple Leafs 3
