Leafs’ strong start has its foundation in the defence
The Maple Leafs are riding high into their game against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, first in the NHL in points and second in goal differential through Thursday’s games.
When the Leafs are discussed, the talk is usually focused on the team’s explosive offence. But the Leafs have built their early success on defence, an undertaking that began after the club lost in the qualifying round to Columbus in last season’s playoffs.
Since then, coach Sheldon Keefe and his staff have underlined details like tracking the puck into the defensive zone and slowing down opposition forwards in the neutral zone. Last season, those forwards often slammed into the Leafs’ zone at full speed and helped turn Toronto into one of the league’s worst teams in goals against off the rush, off the forecheck, and off the cycle.
The Leafs were talking about defensive details Friday and how they have helped forge the identity they have been aiming for since Columbus beat them with a similar-type game.
“We wanted to make it harder to get to our net, so that’s being above the puck but having numerical advantages not just offensively but defensively and prioritizing the net front,” Keefe said.
“That’s been our biggest area of growth, and the commitment to do it even when at times our offence hasn’t been (producing). Our offensive guys haven’t sacrificed that area, and we’re not perfect, but there’s been a lot of commitment in that area, and it’s been the foundation of our success to this point.”
Toronto has struggled in recent years in its attempts to be hard to play against. It has been a rallying cry since the current core of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, Zach Hyman, Morgan Rielly, William Nylander, John Tavares and others began assembling five years ago.
While the Leafs aren’t saying they have now perfected the art of being hard to play against, there is a sense that it has become the central focus of every game, every period, every shift. They continually espouse the fact that their offence is tied directly to cleaning up details in their own end of the rink.
That offence is also producing the dirty goals — tip-ins and rebounds in front of the goalie — another area that will help the hard-to-play-against reputation.
“I think our identity is trying to be smart with the puck,” forward Mitch Marner said. “I think everyone has this motto of us as a team that doesn’t want to earn goals around the net, so I think we’re getting better at that, getting dirty around the net, getting those opportunities.
“We want to be a team that’s … not giving a lot of chances off the rush, trying to make teams earn their goals in front of our net and, at the same time, when we get the puck, be in control with it going the other way. Sometimes there’s no plays to be made, so it’s getting the puck behind the opposing defence- man — get on the forecheck and try to make plays and break them down that way.”
Toronto has cleaned things up considerably in terms of shot attempts.
In data compiled by Sportlogiq, the Leafs rank 14th in evenstrength shot attempts from the slot against off the cycle, with 6.98 per game. Pittsburgh leads the league at 4.09. The same metric off the rush has the Leafs ranked seventh at 5.23 per game (Dallas is first at 4.25) and 18th off the forecheck at 3.05 per game (St, Louis is first at 2.10).
A year ago, the Leafs were at or near the bottom of the league in even strength shots and goals against from those areas.
“I think our whole team’s confidence is high, we’re off to a great start, but I think the big thing is our team is not looking ahead to anything, we’re taking it game by game and day by day, ready to play against any opponent,” Marner said.
“We’re always looking forward to playing the next game and mentally trying to be ready for everything … especially with this season, a lot is going on (with the pandemic). I think we’re all trying to get used to the unusual, and we’re all doing great with it.”