The Toronto Maple Leafs’ power play was nowhere to be found in a 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. How many times has that first line been typed in an article this season? Take the over.

You’re probably sick of reading about it, but rest assured that people are sick of talking about it, too. The Maple Leafs’ power play struggled worse than they have all season on Saturday night, and while 0-for-3 isn’t a gigantic sample size compared to other games, it was more a matter of how lifeless they looked.

There have been games where they’ve been firing on all cylinders and have either fallen victim to a hot goalie or an outstanding team defensive effort from the opponent, but tonight wasn’t one of them. It was akin to watching a bad scene in a worse movie replay itself over and over, screaming at the protagonist to call the police and repeatedly watching them chase the killer into the house instead.

Craig Berube was screaming at his team to move the puck more at morning skate Saturday morning, but it’s evident that the message didn’t get through to the team. Each of the zone entries went as follows – initial breakout attempt, drop pass to a stationary forward in the middle, restart breakout after the opponent’s penalty has settled in, get stripped of the puck, chase it back into their own zone, rinse and repeat.

It’s one thing if you’re struggling to get pucks on net and the bounces just aren’t going your way, and it’s another thing if you’re struggling to connect with your teammates. When you’re battling both of those issues combined and your answer is to try the same strategy over and over again, you’ve got a problem that likely requires a factory reset. And frankly, the Leafs should be pulling the trigger on this factory reset next time they’re on the ice for practice.

The Leafs have put a clear emphasis on team defence heading into this season under Berube’s new philosophy, which should be celebrated. But improving in one area doesn’t mean you can let your guard down in another. Auston Matthews scored 69 goals last year. Mitch Marner has sniffed 100 points in just about every season in recent memory. William Nylander scored 40 goals in back-to-back seasons and is on track to do so again this season. John Tavares found an extra gear when many expected regression and is a point-per-game player. And Morgan Rielly, for all the flak he takes for the defensive side of the game, has shown that he can be a 60-plus point defenceman. There is simply too much talent on this roster for this to continue.

It’s hard to think of many other takeaways outside of the sputtering power play, but let’s take a shot at it anyway.

The Maple Leafs are back in action on Tuesday night when they host the Dallas Stars and look to sweep the season series.