CONSISTENT FOR LEAFS IS THE INCONSISTENCY
Buds back home after western swing got 1 point out of 6
Different location, same issues.
One of the last thoughts Toronto Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe left the media to ponder late on Friday night following the loss in Anaheim was the club’s play on home ice.
It should be a rested, rejuvenated group of Leafs who return to practice on Monday, as the players had Sunday off after travelling home from California on Saturday.
You might recall the trip out west. The Leafs scored three goals and gained one point out of a possible six in losing to San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim.
With 13 games remaining in the regular season, the Leafs, if they had been truly serious about going on a long playoff run, by now would have established themselves as a force on home ice, racking up the wins while making Scotiabank Arena a place of hostility for visitors.
That hasn’t happened, as the results at home have been just as middling as they have been on the road. Since the calendar turned to 2020, the Leafs are 7-52 at Scotiabank.
Six of the Leafs’ next seven games are at home — the lone road game is on Saturday in Boston. On Tuesday, Tampa Bay visits.
“We haven’t played great there (at Scotiabank) for a while now,” Keefe said. “We have to be excited about a chance to play there, but recognize we have to find ways to play better on home ice.
“We’re still looking for more consistency both in our efforts and our results.”
Four of the six home games are against teams that were in a playoff spot before games on Sunday. The game that wraps up the stretch on March 23 comes against the Florida Panthers, an outcome that likely will have four-point ramifications in the standings.
Key for the Leafs in the coming days will be the probable return of defenceman Morgan Rielly, who has missed the past 23 games as he recovers from a broken foot suffered on Jan. 12 against Florida.
With Cody Ceci having returned Friday, Keefe’s defence corps can get back to something resembling normalcy in the near future. Once Rielly returns, only Jake Muzzin (broken knuckle) will remain on the sideline.
Tyson Barrie, Travis Dermott and Justin Holl have taken on greater responsibilities and more minutes with the absences; rookie Rasmus Sandin continues to find his way and was a healthy scratch in two of the three games in California.
“We’re showing real signs of fatigue, in particular on defence, in guys we have asked a lot from,” Keefe said. “Getting Ceci back is a positive step in that direction, but I just look at some of our other guys who are playing a lot of minutes and kind of in the wrong slots and it seems to be catching up a little bit to our group.”
POWER OUTAGES
The Leafs had three power plays against the Ducks and failed to score on any of them, marking the fifth game in a row Toronto has not scored a power-play goal. It’s the longest such drought since the Leafs went five games without a power-play goal in January 2019.
Toronto is 0-for-14 with a man advantage in its past five.
“It’s a little stagnant,” said Auston Matthews, who leads the Leafs with 11 power-play goals.
“It feels like we are a split second slow in moving the puck, little plays here and there.”
A go-to play for the Leafs when they have a man advantage is to get the puck to Matthews for a one-timer, an option that has resulted in several goals. Teams know it’s coming, though. Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings and John Gibson of the Ducks both stopped Matthews after sliding across the crease in anticipation of the shot.
“What I’m seeing is a lot of the shots that had been going in for us aren’t going in here in recent games,” Keefe said. “We’ve got to really look at things and see what we can do a little differently to find some different looks.”
LOOSE LEAFS
Captain John Tavares dismissed the notion he might have been hampered by something physical during the loss to Anaheim. “Nothing out of the ordinary,” Tavares said. “Everyone is playing though stuff this time of year. I’m out there, I have high expectations and I need to produce.” In his past five games, Tavares has two assists. … The Leafs were scheduled to practise Monday and have their annual team photo taken.