The Toronto Maple Leafs traveled to St. Louis to take on the Blues in what they hoped would be a revenge game for their earlier 5-1 loss in Toronto. It wasn’t to be, though, as the Blues downed the Maple Leafs 4-2. What were the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the game?
The Good Part 1 (Maple Leafs Opening Dominance)
I’m going to do something a bit different this time. I will split the good portions of this report into two sections.
The first “Good” was the first 22 minutes of the game. The Maple Leafs came out like they did in their last two games and dominated the opening period. The shots in the period were 12-4 Toronto. According to Naturalstattrick.com, the Scoring Chances were 13-5, and the High-Danger Chances were 3-1. The Maple Leafs had 75% of the Expected Goals in the period.
They were rewarded just once when Mitch Marner picked up his second goal of the season to go along with his team-leading 11 assists. On the goal, Marner deflected a waist-high point shot by Conor Timmins down to Blues’ goalie Jordan Binnington’s feet. Binnington managed to stop the shot but could not control the rebound. Marner kicked the puck from his skates up to his stick and tucked it into the net behind Binnington to put the Maple Leafs up 1-0.
Toronto started the second by getting the first five shots of the period in the first two minutes, and it looked like they were going to dominate the 5-on-5 play as they did against the Winnipeg Jets and Seattle Kraken. But it wasn’t to be.
The Ugly (Blues Take Control)
I’m doing the Ugly next because what came next was ugly. After Toronto was up 17-4 on shots in the first 22 minutes of the game, the Blues had the next 12 shots in 10:30 and scored on three. Two were on point shots by Colton Parayko, with Woll screened on both. The other goal came off of a Jordan Kyrou shot that deflected off William Nylander’s stick and Jake McCabe’s skate.
The other “Ugly” in this game is the ongoing struggles of the power play. They failed on four more attempts in this game. Two of them were abbreviated as the teams traded penalties within 30 seconds of each other on several occasions. Still, the Maple Leafs have three goals in what is approaching 50 chances. They have yet to score a power-play goal on the road this season. The average NHL team scores on 20% of its chances with the extra man, which means the Maple Leafs could and should have ten more goals given their firepower. After splitting the top unit up the last couple of games, coach Sheldon Keefe reunited them on a power play in the third period, scoring 3-1 St. Louis. It didn’t work. The power play is becoming the team’s biggest problem.
The Good Part 2 (Third Period Push)
After a disastrous second period, the Maple Leafs mounted a concerted effort in the third. They outshot the Blues 17-6, outchanced them 10-5, and had five High Danger Chances to the Blues’ two. They managed to get within one goal, but that was as close as they could get.
Following the failed power play where the top unit was reunited, Keefe followed up with the fourth line—a move he has often been criticized for. This time, it worked. On a similar play to the Marner goal, David Kampf deflected a shot by Jake McCabe into Binnington’s pads. Binnington made the save, but he could not control the puck due to the deflection. Kampf dug the puck from under Binnington’s pads and shoveled it to Steven Lorentz. Lorentz took the puck on his forehand, quickly moved to his backhand, and tucked it into the net behind Binnington at 13:52, giving the Maple Leafs plenty of time to get the equalizer.
The Bad (Missed Maple Leafs Chances)
While the Maple Leafs had their chances to tie the game, they couldn’t beat Binnington again. They had some great opportunities, but Binnington was equal to them all.
With Woll on the bench for the extra attacker, Binnington made a great save on Marner, who was in alone and tried to pick the top corner on Binnington’s blocker side. The Blues gained control of the puck, carried it down the ice, and scored into the empty net.
Returning to the Maple Leafs’ power play struggles, they keep losing the special teams battle. Not only did they fail to score with the man advantage, but they also allowed a goal that, while not technically a power-play goal, went in about a tenth of a second after a penalty to Marner expired. Additionally, they failed in the 6-on-5 situation at the end of the game, as the Blues prevented the Maple Leafs from scoring and added an empty-net goal.
What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?
The Maple Leafs move to Minnesota to take on the Wild tonight in a brutal early-season schedule. Just over a week ago, they played six games in ten days, and tonight’s game will be their third in four days. They return to Toronto to take on the Bruins on Tuesday, wrapping up a four-game-in-six-day stretch—the next four games after that include two back-to-backs.
The Wild are off to a great start with a 7-1-2 record and have won six of their last seven games. They have yet to lose at home in regulation this season and are coming off a 4-2 win at home over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night. They had Saturday night off.
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