Here are five takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ 4-1 loss to the Stars

• The Steven Lorentz experiment on Toronto’s first line was short-lived, and it’s probably not coming back. Matthews and Marner combined for some magic within the offensive zone on the game’s opening goal. Matthews hounded Thomas Harley and Miro Heiskanen to win back the puck, Marner found Matthews open, and he wired it top-shelf for the 1-0 lead. Lorentz was a passenger on the shift and he didn’t provide the energy or puck-retrieval Berube was clearly looking for. Lorentz was eventually sent back to the fourth line, against players that are closer to his true talent level. This was only going to be a stop-gap option to begin with, and Berube will have to keep searching for his ideal combinations, or run back the Knies-Matthews-Marner combination, and live with the results.
• The five-forward power play unit returned and it displayed better puck movement, at least initially, before regressing back to some bad habits. William Nylander was robbed by Jake Oettinger, after John Tavares’ initial shot generated a massive rebound. Morgan Rielly hit the post during the first frame, and the emphasis on moving around, and getting shots to the net was at least put into practice. There were some good habits to draw from, but ultimately, Matthews should be responsible for the zone entries, as he’s skating with enough power and torque to fight through contact. In any event, good process isn’t leading to actual goals, although it’s an improvement from Saturday’s listless showing against the Vancouver Canucks.
• Throw away the expected goals chart for a second: I thought Philippe Myers was Toronto’s best skater, perhaps in a tie with Matthews. Myers was active off the rush, he was getting pucks to the net, he facilitated some clean exits and made minimal defensive mistakes. He was physical and broke up chances off the rush with his physical play, and he gave Morgan Rielly some breathing room. You could view it as an indictment of the Maple Leafs’ overall effort that Myers was a clear standout, but he’s been much better since re-entering the lineup in December, which led to his January contract extension, and considering the performances of the bottom-six on Tuesday, he’s clearly moving up through the roster.
• Simon Benoit was terrible on Tuesday, and Conor Timmins wasn’t much better. What does Marshall Rifai have to do to enter the lineup? Benoit and Timmins afforded the Stars way too much space to enter the zone on Stankoven’s first goal, neither player picked up Stankoven as Timmins allowed to the Stars to jam away at the puck without any contest. Benoit wasn’t even in the picture. Benoit-Timmins allowed Sam Steel to walk in for another golden chance in the third period, they fumbled the puck in the defensive zone, and Benoit was caught puck-watching on Matt Duchene’s power play goal, which gave the Stars a 3-1 lead. Toronto controls a ghastly 38 percent of the expected goals when Benoit is on the ice at 5-on-5, and he’s losing battles in front of the net, which should be his specialty. It may be time to give Rifai a chance, as Benoit’s best minutes occurred when he was on the ice with Chris Tanev, while Timmins needed some help from Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
• Connor Dewar, David Kampf and Ryan Reaves weren’t on the ice for a single Leafs shot at 5-on-5, while Kampf sported a minus-four shot differential overall. We don’t want to belabour the point, but the Leafs lose virtually every minute Reaves is on the ice, and it produced virtually nothing on Tuesday. We’d expect Max Pacioretty and Pontus Holmberg to re-enter the lineup Thursday, but there will be a better indication Wednesday. It was a brutal night from Toronto’s bottom six forwards and defence alike.

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