<p>It was a response game, a possible statement game and a true thriller between two Original Six rivals, before a costly turnover sunk the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime against the Boston Bruins.</p>
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<p>Brad Marchand scored the overtime winner for the Bruins, as David Pastrnak intercepted an errant pass from Auston Matthews, fed Marchand and the rest was history.</p>
<p>Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly — <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-morgan-rielly-scores-800th-nhl-game">playing in his 800th game</a> — scored for the Maple Leafs, while Matthews sent the game into overtime with 77 seconds remaining in regulation. It was a terrific game from Matthews, up until the point of his overtime turnover, and he explained the error <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-auston-matthews-costly-mistake-goal-boston-bruins">post-game</a>.</p>
<p>Here are five<strong> </strong>takeaways from the Maple Leafs&#8217; 4-3 overtime loss</p>
<h3>36 seconds of madness underscores a terrible night for McMann, Nylander</h3>
<p>William Nylander spoke about situational awareness following Thursday&#8217;s loss to the St. Louis Blues, which perhaps works as an abstraction more than a real concept, at least throughout the three-game losing streak. Nylander took an ill-advised double minor for high-sticking as well, but thanks to the heroics of Chris Tanev and Anthony Stolarz, it was a blip on the radar in a thriller.</p>
<p>And it wasn&#8217;t much better for his initial linemate Bobby McMann, who fumbled a Philippe Myers pass, then stood idly by with John Tavares and Max Pacioretty as Justin Brazeau tied the game. Nylander was falling all over the ice during the second and when he wiped out into the boards, it created a 3-on-2 for the Bruins, which allowed them to gain the zone and work away at the front of the net before Mark Kastelic notched a 3-2 goal, 36 seconds after Brazeau&#8217;s equalizer. Craig Berube put the lines in a blender eventually, but Toronto&#8217;s second unit, which started the majority of games this season and often looked like the team&#8217;s most productive unit, played an awful game.</p>
<p>You don&#8217;t need underlying numbers to determine a game like this but McMann crawled to a three percent share of the expected goals at 5-on-5, while Nylander registered a seven percent share. The costly errors were visceral and after a week where most Maple Leafs headliners — Nylander included — preached accountability, it was a bizarre showing against the team&#8217;s sworn rival.</p>
<h3>Knies has been Toronto&#8217;s best player during losing streak</h3>
<p>This designation could&#8217;ve possibly gone to Oliver Ekman-Larsson, or Anthony Stolarz, and we&#8217;ll hear cases for a few others but Matthew Knies has been Toronto&#8217;s best player during the losing streak. Knies opened the scoring when Matthews took on four Bruins defenders, then left the puck in a high-danger area and the 22-year-old made no mistake.</p>
<p>Knies was the best player in Toronto&#8217;s 6-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets and was worthy of a passing grade in the 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. He&#8217;s keeping his feet active, he&#8217;s hounding down pucks and he&#8217;s continuing to find ways to improve his production while playing along two superstar linemates. Knies is pacing towards a 36-goal season and it may be lost in the misery of the three-game skid.</p>
<h3>Philippe Myers struggles in debut, opening the door for Timothy Liljegren once again</h3>
<p>Philippe Myers made his season debut in the rotating No. 6 defence spot for the Maple Leafs, taking over for Conor Timmins, who has played all but one game this season, with Timothy Liljegren factoring into the October 16 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. We&#8217;re not trying to be cruel, but Myers struggled throughout the contest. It&#8217;s not his fault that McMann flubbed the pass that led to Brazeau&#8217;s equalizer, but he played a high variance game, where he was swatting pucks up the ice instead of purposely finding teammates.</p>
<p>Myers struggled in his defensive zone and due to multiple failed clearances, Jake McCabe was stuck on the ice for over two minutes in the first period before mercifully getting to the bench. And this was the case from his very shift, where Simon Benoit came to the rescue, saving a goal. Playing in an emotionally charged game against the Bruins perhaps was inopportune timing for Myers&#8217; debut, but you have to be ready when your number is called upon and while Myers&#8217; penalty-killing abilities are an asset for the Maple Leafs, it may not be enough to keep Liljegren or Timmins out of the lineup Monday against the undefeated Winnipeg Jets.</p>
<h3>Chris Tanev is a genuine shot-blocking machine</h3>
<p>Chris Tanev is the seemingly ageless wonder for the Maple Leafs and he leads the NHL with 34 blocked shots in all situations (prior to Saturday&#8217;s late slate) — he&#8217;s perhaps even better than advertised and it&#8217;s tough that the Maple Leafs couldn&#8217;t come up with the win during a heroic night for the 34-year-old.</p>
<p>Tanev skated directly to the locker room last Saturday after blocking a slap shot from New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad but returned to the contest in the third period and has seemed no worse for wear. He blocked six shots in all situations against the Bruins on Saturday as well, and he effectively killed off a Nylander double-minor by throwing his body in harm&#8217;s way throughout the contest.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tanev knew where it was going <a href="https://t.co/ROGvJC3bPD">pic.twitter.com/ROGvJC3bPD</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Omar (@TicTacTOmar) <a href="https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1850317132820582490?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 26, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Tanev has effectively been functioning as Toronto&#8217;s top right-handed defenceman throughout October but he is already morphing into playoff form, shaking off a series of poor games from this week, which can&#8217;t be said of the team overall. He does all the small things at an extremely high level and Tanev&#8217;s performance against the Bruins shouldn&#8217;t be overlooked.</p>
<h3>Stolarz&#8217;s stellar performances suggest abandoning tandem set up</h3>
<p>Anthony Stolarz was excellent for the Maple Leafs again and while he entered the year expected to function in tandem with Joseph Woll, it&#8217;s clear that he&#8217;s the No. 1 goalie until proven otherwise. Stolarz effectively robbed Marchand in overtime as well, but Boston&#8217;s captain had all day to swat away at the rebound uncontested and he didn&#8217;t get much puck support at all from his teammates.</p>
<p>Although Pastrnak came up huge in overtime — history tends to repeat itself — Stolarz largely kept Boston&#8217;s greatest threats at bay.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">another good paddle sweep from Stolarz <a href="https://t.co/HQiJYqH9Fc">pic.twitter.com/HQiJYqH9Fc</a></p>
<p>&mdash; Omar (@TicTacTOmar) <a href="https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1850334619583053925?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 27, 2024</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>He kept the game alive by stopping Matt Poitras on a breakaway and he did what was asked of him: Stolarz provided the Maple Leafs with a chance to a win a game in which they were outchanced, outworked, outshot by 11 and outskilled for large portions. It&#8217;s unclear who will get the start Monday against the Winnipeg Jets, but Stolarz ought to get the first look in order to unseat an unbeaten team, while the Maple Leafs desperately need to break out of their three-game losing streak.</p>
<h3>Sponsored by bet365</h3>
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It was a response game, a possible statement game and a true thriller between two Original Six rivals, before a costly turnover sunk the Toronto Maple Leafs in overtime against the Boston Bruins.
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Brad Marchand scored the overtime winner for the Bruins, as David Pastrnak intercepted an errant pass from Auston Matthews, fed Marchand and the rest was history.

Matthew Knies and Morgan Rielly — <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-morgan-rielly-scores-800th-nhl-game">playing in his 800th game</a> — scored for the Maple Leafs, while Matthews sent the game into overtime with 77 seconds remaining in regulation. It was a terrific game from Matthews, up until the point of his overtime turnover, and he explained the error <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/maple-leafs-auston-matthews-costly-mistake-goal-boston-bruins">post-game</a>.

Here are five<strong> </strong>takeaways from the Maple Leafs' 4-3 overtime loss
<h3>36 seconds of madness underscores a terrible night for McMann, Nylander</h3>
William Nylander spoke about situational awareness following Thursday's loss to the St. Louis Blues, which perhaps works as an abstraction more than a real concept, at least throughout the three-game losing streak. Nylander took an ill-advised double minor for high-sticking as well, but thanks to the heroics of Chris Tanev and Anthony Stolarz, it was a blip on the radar in a thriller.

And it wasn't much better for his initial linemate Bobby McMann, who fumbled a Philippe Myers pass, then stood idly by with John Tavares and Max Pacioretty as Justin Brazeau tied the game. Nylander was falling all over the ice during the second and when he wiped out into the boards, it created a 3-on-2 for the Bruins, which allowed them to gain the zone and work away at the front of the net before Mark Kastelic notched a 3-2 goal, 36 seconds after Brazeau's equalizer. Craig Berube put the lines in a blender eventually, but Toronto's second unit, which started the majority of games this season and often looked like the team's most productive unit, played an awful game.

You don't need underlying numbers to determine a game like this but McMann crawled to a three percent share of the expected goals at 5-on-5, while Nylander registered a seven percent share. The costly errors were visceral and after a week where most Maple Leafs headliners — Nylander included — preached accountability, it was a bizarre showing against the team's sworn rival.
<h3>Knies has been Toronto's best player during losing streak</h3>
This designation could've possibly gone to Oliver Ekman-Larsson, or Anthony Stolarz, and we'll hear cases for a few others but Matthew Knies has been Toronto's best player during the losing streak. Knies opened the scoring when Matthews took on four Bruins defenders, then left the puck in a high-danger area and the 22-year-old made no mistake.

Knies was the best player in Toronto's 6-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets and was worthy of a passing grade in the 5-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday. He's keeping his feet active, he's hounding down pucks and he's continuing to find ways to improve his production while playing along two superstar linemates. Knies is pacing towards a 36-goal season and it may be lost in the misery of the three-game skid.
<h3>Philippe Myers struggles in debut, opening the door for Timothy Liljegren once again</h3>
Philippe Myers made his season debut in the rotating No. 6 defence spot for the Maple Leafs, taking over for Conor Timmins, who has played all but one game this season, with Timothy Liljegren factoring into the October 16 victory over the Los Angeles Kings. We're not trying to be cruel, but Myers struggled throughout the contest. It's not his fault that McMann flubbed the pass that led to Brazeau's equalizer, but he played a high variance game, where he was swatting pucks up the ice instead of purposely finding teammates.

Myers struggled in his defensive zone and due to multiple failed clearances, Jake McCabe was stuck on the ice for over two minutes in the first period before mercifully getting to the bench. And this was the case from his very shift, where Simon Benoit came to the rescue, saving a goal. Playing in an emotionally charged game against the Bruins perhaps was inopportune timing for Myers' debut, but you have to be ready when your number is called upon and while Myers' penalty-killing abilities are an asset for the Maple Leafs, it may not be enough to keep Liljegren or Timmins out of the lineup Monday against the undefeated Winnipeg Jets.
<h3>Chris Tanev is a genuine shot-blocking machine</h3>
Chris Tanev is the seemingly ageless wonder for the Maple Leafs and he leads the NHL with 34 blocked shots in all situations (prior to Saturday's late slate) — he's perhaps even better than advertised and it's tough that the Maple Leafs couldn't come up with the win during a heroic night for the 34-year-old.

Tanev skated directly to the locker room last Saturday after blocking a slap shot from New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad but returned to the contest in the third period and has seemed no worse for wear. He blocked six shots in all situations against the Bruins on Saturday as well, and he effectively killed off a Nylander double-minor by throwing his body in harm's way throughout the contest.

https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1850317132820582490

Tanev has effectively been functioning as Toronto's top right-handed defenceman throughout October but he is already morphing into playoff form, shaking off a series of poor games from this week, which can't be said of the team overall. He does all the small things at an extremely high level and Tanev's performance against the Bruins shouldn't be overlooked.
<h3>Stolarz's stellar performances suggest abandoning tandem set up</h3>
Anthony Stolarz was excellent for the Maple Leafs again and while he entered the year expected to function in tandem with Joseph Woll, it's clear that he's the No. 1 goalie until proven otherwise. Stolarz effectively robbed Marchand in overtime as well, but Boston's captain had all day to swat away at the rebound uncontested and he didn't get much puck support at all from his teammates.

Although Pastrnak came up huge in overtime — history tends to repeat itself — Stolarz largely kept Boston's greatest threats at bay.

https://twitter.com/TicTacTOmar/status/1850334619583053925

He kept the game alive by stopping Matt Poitras on a breakaway and he did what was asked of him: Stolarz provided the Maple Leafs with a chance to a win a game in which they were outchanced, outworked, outshot by 11 and outskilled for large portions. It's unclear who will get the start Monday against the Winnipeg Jets, but Stolarz ought to get the first look in order to unseat an unbeaten team, while the Maple Leafs desperately need to break out of their three-game losing streak.
<h3>Sponsored by bet365</h3>
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