Maple Leafs' offense hits a breaking point vs. Senators as Berube's system faces scrutiny

Coming into a must win game against their provincial rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs did anything but that once they scored the opening goal of the game. What felt like a hot start fizzled out almost immediately, with the Senators taking a commanding lead in the second and never looking back.

You had to feel bad for Joseph Woll as he did everything he could but his offense could barely muster anything.

And by barely muster, we means almost completely invisible. The Maple Leafs had an astounding four total shots in the first two periods of the game. Give credit to Ottawa's defence sure but this is a team who can barely make a simple pass now.

Woll was pulled after allowing his fifth goal of the game, and with the Maple Leafs now destined to become sellers, they have to at least showcase the ones who are going to be on the block. Just hope that Bobby McMann or Oliver Ekman-Larsson can boost their value even more somehow.

The Maple Leafs had a total of 22 shots and did end up beating their season low, but this is getting inexcusable for a professional team especially with the prestige of the Maple Leafs, meanwhile Ottawa was able to walk all over them with nearly 40 shots.

You have to look at this as a testament to how Craig Berube's system really doesn't work. This feels eerily similar to the Maple Leafs of earlier in the year where it felt like they were giving up on Berube and he was about to be fired.

Woll had 23 saves meanwhile Anthony Stolarz stopped all 12 of his shots faced.

They kept their faith in him but how many second chances does he deserve? His slow, plodding, grinding game is useless when he has slow, plodding players who can't keep up with the opponents.

This isn't something that is an immediately fireable offense but if Berube doesn't pick things up by March 6th, he might be gone along with potentially half the lineup he currently works with -- something needs to change and change quickly.

Call the season what it is (a failure), accept defeat, and try to improve your organization from top to bottom. Whether that's new management, a new coach, a new roster...their silence speaks louder than any moves could right now.

If things keep quiet past March 6th, then as much as they wish they could drown out the noise, things are only going to get louder and potentially much, much more difficult for Keith Pelley and company to win the fans over one more time.

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