3 Things the Maple Leafs Must Fix After Thanksgiving Loss to the Red Wings
Photo credit: Gerry Angus-Imagn Images
Something has to change for the Toronto Maple Leafs after a second straight loss to the Detroit Red Wings, and there's a few things they could fix in order to do so.
There wasn't a lot to like about the Maple Leafs' second loss in a row to the Red Wings except for perhaps the emergence of Matthew Knies this season finally, and Easton Cowan made a very solid NHL debut.
Beyond that it was all Detroit even if Toronto outshot them. They couldn't solve Cam Talbot, had trouble staying out of the penalty box, and it was another quiet night for Auston Matthews, John Tavares and William Nylander.
Improvements have to be made, and thankfully it's early enough to not panic (yet). So looking ahead to Nashville on Tuesday night, what are a few things the team can work on?
The Top Line Needs to Start Setting the Tone
Even though it's still only three games into the season, the top line hasn't been that offensive punch we had hoped for, making Mitch Marner's departure even worse (more on that later).
Auston Matthews has one empty net goal and nothing more, Matthew Knies just broke out on Monday afternoon with two points, and Easton Cowan was debuting.
Prior to that, Matias Maccelli got a bit of time and was an abject failure up top, meanwhile Craig Berube put William Nylander with Matthews at times and that felt even worse.
When your fourth-line is outscoring your top line 4-2, it's not a good look and if it weren't for Calle Jarnkrok the team would be even worse off offensively.
Once Matthews and company gets rolling that sets the tone for everyone else, and if they were able to capitalize on one key facet; they could be in a better spot.
The Power Play Has Gone Cold Without Marner
30th in PP percentage, 28th in power play time, and already giving up a short-handed goal, special teams has not been the strong suit for the Maple Leafs this season.
They are doing better at getting shots towards the net, but are just not capitalizing. Mitch Marner's absence hurts, and while the team isn't cycling as much as they were, something isn't clicking as it did with Marner.
There was some type of playmaking with him, he could at least find open lanes. If Toronto makes a pass it's often intercepted or blocked and their dump and chase method isn't as successful as last year.
You have five stars on your power play who combined for 40 goals last season on the man advantage and can't put one past Sam Montembeault or a 38-year old Cam Talbot.
There's still time but as we saw so far, crashing the net is working for Toronto so they need to get as much traffic in front of the net and let the pucks fly; the goals will come.
Leafs' Defense Is Still Too Soft in Front of the Net
The name of the game for Toronto has always been to give up a lot of bad shots and suppress high-danger chances. There wasn't any of that against Detroit over the last two games and their lack of awareness killed them.
Puck-watching has been an issue, and too often are they letting teams overpowering them in the crease and getting second chances. That can't happen with a defense like Toronto's.
Tightening up man to man coverage, and boxing out players is going to make Anthony Stolarz's already difficult life so much more easier and could be the turning point in making sure he doesn't implode.
They have given up 3.67 goals a game and 11 total in three games. Stolarz can hardly be at fault for all of it and the team needs to make sure they get their act together soon.
We are three games into the year, so there's still so much time for Craig Berube and his club to figure it out.
Through those games however, they've looked anything like the team we expected them to be.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 13 | 719 ANSWERS 3 Things the Maple Leafs Must Fix After Thanksgiving Loss to the Red Wings Can Toronto bounce back against Nashville on Tuesday night? | ||
| Yes | 607 | 84.4 % |
| No | 112 | 15.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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