Power-hungry Leafs thinking outside the box
No goals with man advantage after last season’s struggles point to need for change
They come from widely different hockey backgrounds, but defencemen Jake Gardiner and Nikita Zaitsev share the same perspective on the Leafs’ so-far fruitless power-play performance: it’s very much a work in progress.
“Against Boston, we had a tough time. They were quick and they pressured us in our own zone, so set-up is very important,” Gardiner said after the Leafs worked diligently on their power-play game plan for a second straight day before heading out on a three-game road trip that starts Wednesday night in Winnipeg.
Gardiner was referring to the Leafs’ 4-1home-opener win over Boston on Saturday, in which they went 0-for-4 with the man advantage to make it 0-for-8 through two games.
While it’s a small sample size, special teams production is a high priority after a season in which the Leafs had the second-worst conversion rate in the NHL and the fourth-fewest power-play goals. Having several newcomers on the power play, including top rookies Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, is a factor but not an excuse, the Leafs say.
“Everyone’s played power play before and this year we have the most skilled guys we’ve had on the power play in some time, so that shouldn’t be an issue,” Gardiner said.
Gardiner and Zaitsev each quarterback one of the units the club has been deploying with the man advantage, while going with four forwards.
Zaitsev, another top newcomer, was one of the better power-play producers among defencemen in Russia over his eight-year career in the KHL. He scored seven goals with the man advantage for CSKA Moscow last season, 11 the year before.
“We’re working on it every day in practice and we’re trying to improve,” said Zaitsev, who notched 26 power-play goals overall in 317 career KHL games. “We talk to each other every day about it and it takes time sometimes, getting to know each other.”
Zaitsev’s success in that area was part of the reason the Leafs signed him. His pedigree on special teams was honed in part by current St. Pe- tersburg SKA coach Sergei Zubov, the former NHL all-star defenceman who notched 111 goals — 60 on the power play — in a 12-year career.
Gardiner was a natural choice as the pivot man last season in head coach Mike Babcock’s first season behind the Leafs bench, given his natural skating ability and good, low shot from the point. But the Leafs’ strategy relies on moving the puck to set up shots, then battling for tip-ins and rebounds.
They have yet to establish a big-shot weapon like Alex Ovechkin or Steven Stamkos, though Matthews and Marner could step into that role.
In the meantime, Babcock alluded to future power-play time for Seth Griffith, who was claimed off waivers from Boston on Oct. 11 and had a goal and three assists with the man ad- vantage in 34 games with the Bruins over the past two seasons, with a 17.1 shooting percentage overall.
“We’ll give him an opportunity when it warrants itself,” Babcock said Tuesday. “He has to get up to speed, but Boston does a lot of things we do and our guys (management) felt he is a guy who can help us, so we’ll have to get him an opportunity there.”