Who turned off the juice on Leafs’ power play?
Against Flames, team 0-for-11 with extra man
Here’s an educated guess: The Maple Leafs will be putting in some special teams work when they return to practice on Friday.
More to the point, on the power play.
The Leafs, who had Thursday off after beating the Calgary Flames 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday, have not scored in their past 12 power-play opportunities.
In the two-game set against the Flames, the Leafs came up with nothing on 11 power plays, often performing in a sloppy manner.
“There’s a number of things, but we’re definitely out of sync,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “We’ve been bouncing around between units and people and part of that is injuries and we haven’t found a great balance.
“The other part of it is, Calgary was as good on the penalty kill as we’ve seen this season. That kept us out of sorts, made it hard for us to get off the wall and get organized. but without a doubt, we’ve got to be better.”
After practice at the Ford Performance Centre, the Leafs will travel to edmonton to start a five-game trip on Saturday, with three games against the Oilers followed by a pair in Vancouver versus the Canucks.
“Special teams, when we get into edmonton, are going to be massive,” Keefe said.
“We’ve got to be a lot better and be difference-makers like we have been virtually all season.”
Sitting in first overall in the National Hockey League standings, the Leafs had fallen to fourth in the NHL on the power play prior to games on Thursday.
While it doesn’t help that Keefe has had to use bottom-six forwards Jimmy Vesey and Travis boyd on the power play, it’s on the shoulders of the Leafs’ best players, whether it’s Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, William Nylander or Morgan rielly, to get the units on the same page when there is a man advantage.
THINKING OUT LOUD
Keefe acknowledged that Matthews’ right wrist has been an issue through the season. With that in mind, kudos to the Leafs’ medical staff for ensuring the team’s best player has been good to go for every game except one. How much more offensive damage could Matthews be doing if he was closer to 100 per cent healthy? He has an Nhl-best 18 goals in 20 games and had moved into third in NHL scoring behind Connor Mcdavid and Leon draisaitl, with 31 points. All done with a wonky wrist.
Impressive … As the Toronto Marlies’ eight-game trip to start the American Hockey League season ends on Friday in Calgary against the Stockton Heat, several players are hovering at a pointa-game pace. Tyler Gaudet has eight points in seven games, while Kenny Agostino and Adam brooks are at seven points, followed by Nick robertson with six and Joey Anderson with five. In robertson’s case, Keefe indicated when the 19-year-old was sent to the Marlies that it wouldn’t be long before he got another chance with the Leafs. Will Toronto be tempted to have a Marlies player head north from Calgary to join the team in edmonton rather than travel back to Toronto? Perhaps, though it would be fine for any of the prospects to continue to get traction in the minors … If Joe Thornton returns to the lineup on Saturday, the player to come out should be Vesey, who has one assist in his past 15 games and has been a disappointment. We’ve liked the jump Alexander barabanov has had in recent games, and he shouldn’t be scratched. Vesey has managed to get less ice time as the Leafs have been dealing with injuries to Thornton and Wayne Simmonds … The stories of mistreating players aside, the fact remains that Mike babcock was fired 41/2 years into his eight-year contract with Toronto because he couldn’t make it work despite having an excellent young core at
his disposal. babcock has been saying on his resurfacing tour that he knew he would be fired, eventually, when Lou Lamoriello departed the organization in the spring of 2018. Had babcock built on his one and only Stanley Cup — in 2008 with detroit — with some playoff success with the Leafs, he likely still would be coaching in Toronto and Keefe would be on the staff of another NHL club. When babcock peers into a mirror, it’s probably only to check that his hair looks good.
LOOSE LEAFS
updates will come Friday on goalies Frederik Andersen (lower body) and Jack Campbell (lower body), Thornton (lower body) and defenceman Jake Muzzin (face). Michael Hutchinson has won two of his three starts and has posted a sharp .924 save percentage, but once Andersen or Campbell is healthy, Hutchinson will return to spectator status … The Leafs confirmed that defenceman rasmus Sandin suffered a fracture in his foot during a game with the Marlies on Feb. 15. Sandin will be re-evaluated in midmarch … Against Calgary on Wednesday, Nylander joined a select group of Leafs who have scored in the final two minutes of a game and then got the winner in overtime in the same game. Nylander became the fourth Leaf in club history to do so, joining benoit Hogue (1995), Tom Fergus (1986) and Pep Kelly (1935 playoffs) … Marner has gone two games without a point, and has not been pointless in three consecutive regular-season games since Feb. 16-21, 2019.