The Toronto Maple Leafs came out on the short end of an important 4-point game against the Boston Bruins. They lost to the tune of 4-1 on Monday night. Instead of being four points behind the second-place Bruins with two games in hand, the Maple Leafs now find themselves eight points behind them.
What were the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the game?
The Ugly
I will start with the ugly because the game started ugly for Toronto. They gave up a breakaway on the first shift of the game, which Joseph Woll stopped. Toronto did not give up another shot for almost seven minutes and managed two not-very-dangerous shots of their own after that.
At 6:22 of the period, Kevin Shattenkirk took a high sticking penalty against Mitch Marner. At that point, things got really ugly for the Maple Leafs. Not only did Toronto not get a single shot on the net on the power play, but they gave up two glorious scoring chances with the man advantage.
The Bruins carried the momentum they gained on that power play over the next five minutes. Over that span, they outshot Toronto 11-0 and scored two goals. That five-minute stretch proved to be the difference in the game.
The Good
The second Boston goal seemed to give the Maple Leafs the kick in the pants they needed. Toronto took it to the Bruins in the last seven minutes of the first period. They outshot them 9-1 and had, by my count, seven good scoring chances. The analytics website Naturalstatrick.com had the High Danger Scoring Chances in the first period at 9-4 Toronto.
The Maple Leafs carried that momentum into the second period and took the game to the Bruins in the first five minutes of that period.
The Bad
That momentum would come to a screeching halt just over five minutes into the second. Right after Bobby McMann came within inches of putting the Maple Leafs on the scoreboard, the Bruins came back down the ice. Jake DeBrusk scored on a similar chance to the one McMann just had at the other end of the ice.
That goal took the wind out of the Maple Leafs’ sails. The rest of the period was frustrating to watch for Maple Leaf’s fans. The Bruins shut things down for the remainder of the period, giving Toronto little room to move.
Toronto got a little life early in the third. John Tavares scored on a shot that Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman should have had. However, that life was snuffed out when Pavel Dacha scored his second goal of the game midway through the period. After the score hit 4-1, the rest of the game was played at a “let’s get this over with” pace.
One Point Wonders
If you total up all the goals and assists the twelve Toronto forwards had in this game it would add up to just one. That was the Tavares goal. Morgan Rielly and Ilya Lyubushkin assisted. The other eleven Maple Leafs forwards failed to record a single point.
Out-Goalied
Joseph Woll made some good saves in this game. I can’t fault him on three of the four Boston goals. The third goal off of the stick of DeBrusk was a shot Woll should have had. It was a good shot that found the top corner on Woll’s glove side. However, it was unscreened and stoppable. Jeremy Swayman let in a similar goal, but that was the only goal he allowed.
Naturalstattrick had the High Danger Scoring Chances in the game at 15-14 Toronto. That suggests the overall good scoring chances were even between the two teams. Swayman stopped more of them than Woll did.
What’s Next?
The Maple Leafs are home to the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. They then fly into Boston for a rematch on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Bruins play the second of back-to-backs against the Edmonton Oilers tonight and have a day off before facing Toronto on Thursday night. Both the Bruins and the Maple Leafs will be on their third game in four nights when they meet in Boston.
For the Maple Leafs to have any thoughts of still catching the Bruins for second place in the Atlantic, they have to hope the Oilers can defeat Boston on Tuesday night. Then Toronto must win both the Buffalo game and the game in Boston the night after. That would leave the Maple Leafs four points back of the Bruins with two games in hand.
Two Good Notes
Good Note #1: It was a great relief to see that Lyubushkin was not injured when he took that high hit from Matt Rempe on Saturday night.
Good Note #2: I realize it means nothing to Morgan Rielly right now. However, the assist he had on Tavares’ goal moved him past Tim Horton into third place in all-time franchise scoring for a Maple Leafs defenseman. He has a ways to go to catch first or second though. Rielly (with 459 points) is 61 points behind second-place Tomas Kaberle (520 pts). He’s also 309 points back of first-place Borje Salming (768 pts).
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