A goal is, mercifully, enough
Because Leafs have a hard time getting a second many nights
DETROIT— On the long list of problems that have plagued the last-place Maple Leafs this season, at least one has visibly frustrated head coach Mike Babcock.
It’s the club’s dismal lack of scoring touch. Only the New Jersey Devils have scored less often than the Maple Leafs this season. But Toronto’s drought-like 2.26 goals per game haven’t been the product of a lack of chances. The Leafs came into Sunday’s 1-0 win over the Red Wings running fifth in the league in shots on goal per game but dead last in shooting percentage — converting on just 7.3 per cent of their on-target attempts. Babcock was asked to explain the phenomenon. “When one guy gets the puck and he’s alone with the goalie and it’s dangerous, and one guy gets the puck and he’s alone with the goalie and it’s not dangerous, what’s the difference?” the coach deadpanned.
The difference, to generalize, comes down to talent and a bit of luck. And on Sunday the Maple Leafs looked to be bereft of, at the very least, the latter. Top prospect William Nylander set the stone-handed tone in the early moments. Gifted a point-blank tap-in on a beautiful cross-ice feed from fellow rookie Zach Hyman, Nylander somehow zinged the puck over the net and wide.
Not long after Maple Leafs centreman Nazem Kadri was turned away on a breakaway by Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek. And the misfortune began to pile up. Peter Holland drilled a power-play chance off a post. Ben Smith had an apparent goal called back when it was ruled he had directed it in with the thrust of his left shoulder.
So perhaps it was fitting that when the Maple Leafs finally got on the scoreboard on Sunday it was not with some virtuoso display of magical skill. Michael Grabner was credited with the game’s only goal but his right calf muscle appeared to be responsible for it, although some observers gave credit to his butt. After being hauled down on a second-period breakaway and awarded a penalty shot, a video review showed that some part of Grabner’s posterior chain put the puck in the net as the Maple Leaf slid through the crease. It was the Austrian’s first goal in 30 games. “It’s a big relief,” Grabner said.
“I’ve had chances before and the puck just wouldn’t go in. Hopefully that’s all it takes is a goal like this and I can build off that.”
Grabner’s grunt work was enough to help Jonathan Bernier to a rare victory, the Maple Leaf goaltender’s eighth of the season (and third shutout) in 31 appearances. The visitors, meanwhile, won for the second time in the past three outings and just the second time all year in the closing leg of a back-toback set — a situation in which they now own an unholy 2-10-2 record.
“It was a good win for us,” Babcock said. “I like to win.”
It has been two weeks since the Maple Leafs called up a handful of prospects from the AHL Marlies. All three of Nikita Soshnikov, William Nylander and Zach Hyman have scored two NHL goals apiece. Still, the presence of the new producers hadn’t markedly raised the teamwide output. In eight games with the kids in the lineup, the Maple Leafs have averaged 1.5 goals a game.
“For our whole team it’s been tough. And it’s not like we just get shots from the outside. We’ve had some good chances,” Grabner said. “A lot of guys are hitting posts or (there are) great saves by goalies. That’s just the way it’s been . . . But you can’t get frustrated. If you get frustrated you’ll get away from your game and that’s when bad stuff happens.”
The Red Wings, mind you, haven’t been lighting the lamp with regularity; they came into Sunday’s game 23rd in the league in goals per game. And they too had a would-be goal called back after it was determined centreman Luke Glendening had gloved the once-airborne puck that slid under Jonathan Bernier’s pad and into the Toronto net.
Still, a bright spot in Detroit’s arse- nal has been the emergence of 19year-old rookie Dylan Larkin. Larkin, a University of Michigan teammate of Hyman’s last season, has 20 goals and 20 assists in 67 games.
Babcock said that kind of production from a player picked 15th overall in the 2014 draft was simply unforeseeable.
“I think anybody that tells you that they knew for sure, that’s just impossible,” Babcock said. “I watched him lots . . . He’s got dynamic, dynamic speed. He’s got more skill than I anticipated.”
More skill, of course, is what’s required in Toronto. Until it arrives, Babcock’s frustration figures to linger. Grabner, for his part, said he’ll remember Sunday’s lone marker as a far prettier thing than the video suggests — as in slap shot, top shelf.
Said Grabner with a smile: “That’s how it went in, in my mind.”