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Leafs-Red Wings takeaways: Problematic depth scoring and old habits lead to 4-2 loss in Detroit
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Photo credit: © Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
Alex Hobson
Dec 15, 2024, 08:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 15, 2024, 01:48 EST
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Whether it was the preventable go-ahead goal with 17 seconds left in the second period or the immediate back-breaker after the Toronto Maple Leafs tied it up at two, Saturday night’s 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings looked a lot closer to a game you’d get from the Leafs of three years ago rather than the Leafs of this season so far.
Sure, maybe they would have scored a few more goals three years ago, but those goals probably cancel out without the Joseph Woll/Anthony Stolarz tandem magic the Maple Leafs have gotten this year. And it didn’t matter on Saturday, regardless. From the moment the puck dropped, it just felt like it was going to end in frustrating fashion.
It wasn’t Woll’s greatest effort on paper, stopping 22 of 25 shots to the tune of an .880 save percentage (SV%), but he was far from the reason the team lost tonight. A neutral zone giveaway led to the aforementioned go-ahead goal at the end of the second period thanks to a fire drill in front of the Leafs’ net that ended with the usually-steady pairing of Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev on the same side of the net and Woll about a country mile out of his crease.
The third and game-winning goal was just a rapid, immediate response to the Maple Leafs’ tying goal that the team clearly wasn’t prepared for. Woll made an outstanding save initially to keep them alive, but the Leafs’ defenders played it like a play that was already beyond saving and simply gave the Wings’ forwards too much time and space in front of their open net.
It wasn’t a game the Maple Leafs should be proud of, but there’s a chance to redeem themselves on Sunday night when they host the Buffalo Sabres, another divisional rival that’s out of a playoff spot and struggling to win games. It’s a good chance for them to prove that Saturday’s game was just a blip and not a sign of reverting to the old habit of dropping points to non-playoff teams.
Here are five more takeaways from Saturday night’s loss to the Red Wings.
  • It may not have directly contributed to any of Detroit’s goals, but the Maple Leafs’ secondary scoring has especially been presenting itself as an issue in recent games and it only further highlights what they should be after at the trade deadline. Max Domi is especially somebody who needs to find his offensive touch soon, yet to score his first goal of the season with only six assists in 22 games. Max Pacioretty has leapfrogged him as a depth contributor, which never should have been the case. The fourth line of Pontus Holmberg, Connor Dewar, and Steven Lorentz did lots of good on the defensive side of the puck, but haven’t brought much to the table offensively. Overall, the team needs much more from their forwards outside of the Core Four and Matthew Knies.
  • Bobby McMann may not have lit up the scoresheet in his return to the Maple Leafs’ lineup, but his five shots and three hits in just under 13 minutes of ice time show that there isn’t a lot of rust to shake off. That said, his line with Domi and Fraser Minten struggled to maintain any sort of offensive possession, highlighted by their measly 23.53% Corsi-for rating. This line could be a shake-up candidate against Buffalo if they and/or the rest of the team start slowly.
  • Simon Benoit had a fine night from a fancy-stat standpoint, but he struggled in the defensive zone, especially on Detroit’s game-winning goal. He was caught flat-footed on Tyler Motte’s forecheck, which led to a desperation play from Conor Timmins and eventually the goal. The Maple Leafs’ defensive efforts in 2024-25 have been the furthest thing from a problem, but you have to wonder if Brad Treliving will swing a deal for a more dependable bottom-pair option as the deadline approaches.
  • It won’t show up on any sort of stat sheets, but an underrated issue the Maple Leafs had was their inability to get shots through. This can be credited to Detroit playing some sturdy defence, especially later in the game when the Leafs were pressing for an equalizer, but ultimately, they need to do a better job of getting pucks on net, at least more so than they did on Saturday. At least three shots in the final minute were blocked by defenders or outright missed the net, writing off any possibility for some of those “dirty” goals that head coach Craig Berube has preached the importance of.
  • This one isn’t so much about the game but rather the implications heading into Sunday’s game. As alluded to earlier, the Leafs need to bounce back strong against the Sabres and prove that they aren’t going to moonwalk back into the old habits that killed them so many times during the regular season in the past few years. They’re currently first place in the Atlantic Division, but with the Boston Bruins picking up a win on Saturday over the Vancouver Canucks, they’re within four points of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are fourth place in the division at the time of filing. They don’t have any breathing room with their seeding and can’t afford to take too many nights off, even if it’s the middle of December.

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