Leafs weekly wrap up: The Leafs are actually bad

Photo credit:Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

6 years ago

The record 0-3-0

The Leafs had three games on the road this past week against teams that are all having mediocre seasons so far.

The Buds first travelled to Philly to face the Flyers on Tuesday night looking to continue their momentum from the previous week where they won three out of three.

The Leafs were outshot in every period, which resulted in Philly taking 39 shots and Toronto having just 22 – not good. However the Leafs were on course for another undeserved win as they led 2-1 heading into the third. Pressure eventually told, and the Flyers got exactly what they deserved with three third period goals – including a beauty scored by Sean Couturier.

So, no big deal, Leafs lost but had a chance to bounce back with back to back games against Minnesota and Detroit. How wrong I was in thinking that.

The Leafs-Wild game was arguably the worst game of hockey I have seen. The Buds struggled to create offense but admittedly looked okay defensively. Is it just me or is it better when the Leafs are scoring seven and conceding five every game?

Tyler Ennis scored his ninth goal against the Leafs – how!? Mikael Granlund then sealed the victory for the Wild with a goal late in the third period.

Then the most annoying game of the season happened as the Buds travelled to Little Caesars Arena – the stupidest name I have ever heard for an arena – on Thursday. Now I understand that teams go through good and bad spells however a loss to Detroit at the moment is unforgivable for a team that is supposedly playoff bound.

Kasperi Kapanen scored his first goal of the season, though I am pretty sure it went straight in from Borgman. NHL gives Kappy the goal so he gets his first since his playoff tally against the Capitals.

From there it was downhill. Detroit scored three goals. I do not want to talk more about it or I might break into the Christmas alcohol.

Matthews? Please be healthy soon. pls.

The stats

Rk	Name	GP	G	A	P
1	Borgman	3	0	1	1
2	Martin	3	0	1	1
3	Kappy	1	1	0	1
4	Hainsey	3	0	1	1
5	Hyman	3	0	1	1
6	JVR	3	1	0	1
7	Marleau	3	1	0	1
8	Rielly	3	0	1	1

What miserable points totals for the week. No one got more than one. Shout out to Kapanen for getting his first goals and points of the season. Other than that – very poor.

Seasonal stats

Rk	Name	GP	G	A	P
1	Auston Matthews	26	13	13	26
2	Nazem Kadri	34	13	10	23
3	James Van Riemsdyk	33	15	7	22
4	William Nylander	34	5	16	21
5	Morgan Rielly	34	4	17	21
6	Mitch Marner	34	2	18	20
7	Patrick Marleau	34	11	7	18
8	Zach Hyman	34	6	10	16
9	Jake Gardiner	34	2	13	15
10	Connor Brown	34	9	5	14

I promised myself I would be more upbeat with this section. So look at how good Matthews is and he has missed eight games this season – and has been at less than 100% for the ones he did play. If we can get him fit and flying again then Leaf land will be a better place to be. Also Morgan Rielly has the same amount of points as William Nylander – good for Rielly for Nylander needs to be doing more.

Speaking of Nylander, he and Marner seem to be allergic to shooting the puck? Does anyone else stare at their TV screen in confusion as both players would rather cut back with the puck than shoot? I think both players are severely lacking in confidence.

Fancy stats

Philly was bad, we had a CF% of 42.9. We were better against the Wild with 61.4 CF% but that was mainly due to our pretty dull game plan – mind it must be said the Wild game was our best performance of the week and the game could easily have went our way.

Against the lowly Wings, we had a slight edge with 53.2CF% but the eye test would tell a different story as we were clearly out battled in that game. The Wings are actually bad and were quite comfortable in the end with their victory.

Freddie had a decent week as well – saving 39 shots against the Flyers for a .921 save percentage. He then saved 24 of 26 to post a .923. I bet he is missing the offensive threat of Matthews as he is currently being overworked. McElhinney went back to his usual sub .900 performance, though it would be difficult to blame our defeat to the Wings on him.

Divisional standings

TAMPA BAY	32	24	6	2	50
TORONTO	34	20	13	1	41
BOSTON	30	15	10	5	35
MONTREAL	33	14	15	4	32
DETROIT	32	12	13	7	31
FLORIDA	33	12	16	4	29
OTTAWA	31	11	13	7	29
BUFALLO	33	8	18	7	23

Every team in the division this week won a game – including the lowly Sabres. Tampa Bay hit the 50 point plateau and are four points ahead of their nearest challengers for the Presidents Trophy.

Admittedly, our skid this week is less dramatic when you see that we are nine points ahead of Montreal who currently sit outside the playoffs.

Player of the week

The fourth-line deserves some credit this week for being the Leafs best and most consistent line. Leivo was good at the start of the week and Kapanen looked pretty decent against Detroit too. Matt Martin has been really good all season and Dominic Moore seems to be getting better with every game.

Conclusion

Shoot the puck more! You cannot score if you do not shoot. Defensively, we were okay this week but the lack of Matthews is really harming the team.

That being said, when he returns the team will be balanced, our line matchups will be far better and we will see that help the teams offense overall. Matthews is such a good player in all areas of the ice that him not being available has hurt us in every department.

Overall though three defeats hurt – particularly the one against divisional rivals Detroit. The Leafs need to play better, and dare I say, Mike Babcock needs to take some blame for some questionable lineup decisions.

Coming up

Three games before Christmas for the Leafs as we play against some of the Metro division teams. Firstly a home game against Carolina followed by Columbus the next night and the Rangers on Saturday.

This is not an easy set of fixtures for the Buds, with all three of these sides having realistic playoff hopes. Carolina already beat us on home ice 6-3 earlier in the season and New York came back from 5-2 down, to 5-5 before Toronto ran out as 8-5 victors. Columbus are a pretty strong team who will give us a dam good match on Wednesday.

Hopefully the Buds can just play better this week. It is important to not head into Christmas on the back of a bad losing streak, so winning at least one of these games is vital for the team’s morale. I am quietly confident that if Matthews returns we will turn on the style again.

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