In this first quarter of the NHL season, the Toronto Maple Leafs have struggled on the power play. Furthermore, Toronto has spent days as the worst power play in the entire league. In Toronto’s first 12 games of the season, they scored just three power-play goals. Although, in the last few games, it seems that the power play has been improving. In the last four games or so, Toronto’s power play has been trending in the right direction. Even in the games where they couldn’t convert on the man advantage, they looked dangerous and were knocking on the door. The Leafs have fired home four PP markers in their last two games.
Toronto’s Power Play is Hot
Head coach Craig Berube was asked multiple times by the media about what needs to change about the power play. Every time he answered, he said the same thing. The Leafs bench boss wanted his team to simplify things with the extra man. Therefore, he wanted to see less stick handling and more shots on the net. In their 4-0 win against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, they displayed just that. After speculation of power-play coach and assistant coach Marc Savard being on the hot seat, he’ll be happy to see the special teams putting up numbers.
Out of Toronto’s four goals, three were power-play markers. In this game, the Leafs nearly doubled their season total from four to seven power-play goals this campaign. The Bruins let the Leafs have a ton of practice with the extra man as they gave Toronto seven PP opportunities. On those three goals, the Maple Leafs scored the way that Berube has been preaching. Two goals came from shots from the point. Morgan Rielly beat Jeremy Swayman clean on the first goal, thanks to a Matthew Knies screen. On the third goal, Knies scored from a deflection from a Rielly shot. Toronto’s second power-play goal might have been the simplest of them all. William Nylander attempted a saucer pass through the crease, but the puck went into the net off Brandon Carlo‘s shin pad.
In addition to this success on the PP, the Leafs have had to do this without three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner, Auston Matthews. He was ruled out of Tuesday’s game due to an upper-body injury that could keep him out of the lineup for the rest of the week.
All Special Teams Getting it Done
While it is nice to see Toronto’s man advantage convert multiple times against the Bruins, the penalty kill was just as impressive in their shutout win. Toronto put Boston on the man advantage six times on Tuesday night. However, the Maple Leafs prevailed and were perfect on the penalty kill. A mix of great goaltending and executing penalty-killing strategies got the job done. The Leafs have quietly been one of the best penalty-killing teams in the NHL. As of Tuesday night, Toronto is the sixth-best team in terms of PK percentage.
It has been crucial for the Leafs’ penalty kill to be successful considering how many times Toronto are shorthanded. The Maple Leafs are third in the league for times shorthanded per game. On average, the Leafs are shorthanded just over four times per game. Furthermore, they are only behind the San Jose Sharks and the Bruins in that statistic. Perhaps Toronto’s penalty kill has been so successful because of how many reps they get per game. At this point of the season, it has become a regular situation for the Leafs. Regardless, there is no doubt that associate coach Lane Lambert has had a great debut campaign with the Leafs.
Main Photo Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
The post Patience Pays Off For Toronto Maple Leafs Special Teams appeared first on Last Word On Hockey.