The Good, Bad, & Ugly in Maple Leafs 5-2 Loss to Penguins

The Toronto Maple Leafs hoped to bounce back from losing to the Washington Capitals on Friday when they traveled to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins on Saturday night. It wasn’t to be. The Penguins blew a close game open with a couple of empty-net goals to come away with a 5-2 victory over the Maple Leafs.  

What were the good, bad, and ugly aspects of the game?

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The Good (Matthews, Marner & Nylander)

After going behind twice in the game, the Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner combination worked their magic to tie the game back up twice. On Toronto’s first goal, Marner was the down-low presence for a change, which paid off. Usually, Marner is the engine buzzing around the zone, distributing the puck and creating chances for other players. This time, he was parked in front of the net, creating a screen for Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Ekman-Larsson took a pass from Matthews at the point on this particular play and fired it into the net. Pittsburgh goalie Tristan Jarry made the same mistake. But Marner, as he was being knocked to the ice by Marcus Pettersson, reached back with his stick and slid the puck past Jarry into the net. 

On the second goal, Marner one-timed passes from Matthews to William Nylander at the top of the faceoff circle to Jerry’s right. Nylander then blasted a one-time shot that beat Jerry’s stick side. One of Marner’s strengths is knowing what he wants to do with the puck before getting it. There have been two goals in the last three games where the puck was off his stick instantly—going from one player to the next in the blink of an eye. 

Marner, Matthews, and Nylander on the Season

According to the broadcast team, Marner leads the NHL with 15 multi-point games this season. And 11 of those have come in his last 14 games. After going pointless in five of his first eight games this season, Marner has had at least one point in 17 of his previous 19 games. 

Since returning from his injury, Matthews has scored seven points (3G, 4A) in five games.  

Nylander’s goal was his 17th of the season, which places him in a tie for third in goals in the league, two goals behind Leon Draisaitl and Sam Reinhart. Nylander is on pace to score 50 goals this season.

After not performing well against the Capitals on Friday night, the Maple Leafs played a much better game in Pittsburgh. For the most part, they were faster, won many more battles for the puck, and created many more scoring chances. 

The Bad (The Maple Leafs Could Never Get the Lead)

The one thing the Maple Leafs have been able to do exceptionally well this season is to hold onto leads. Unfortunately, they never had the lead in this game. The Penguins went up 1-0 on the power play when Rickard Rackell deflected a point shot by Matt Grzelcyk past Joseph Woll. After Marner tied the game at one, Pittsburgh got the lead back again two-thirds of the way through the second period.

On that play, Sidney Crosby missed the net on a shot. But the puck bounced off the boards and came back to Brian Rust at the top of the faceoff circle to the right of Woll. Rust one-timed the puck along the ice through three players and under Woll into the net. Woll was screened entirely on the shot and did not see the puck until it passed him.

With the score tied 2-2 and Matthews in the box for high-sticking, Conor Timmins blocked a shot by Rust from the faceoff circle to the right of Woll. Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, the puck went straight left of Timmins to Michael Bunting. Before Woll could get across the crease, Bunting’s shot was by him and into the net. 

The Maple Leafs were not able to get the equalizer after that. Midway through the third period, Matthew Knies had a glorious chance to tie the game. He caught Jarry out of position and had him beat. But Knies rang the puck off the post and out the other side behind the Penguins goalie. 

The Officiating Was Again “Interesting”

I was tempted to once again put the refereeing in the ugly sections of this post. I decided to go with just “Bad” because at least the calls they made in this game were legitimate and not the cheap type that was called in the Washington game. It was the missed calls in this game that irked me. Two examples were a blatant hook by Evgeni Malkin on Nylander and a hog-tie dragdown of Connor Dewar by Erik Karlsson. Max Pacioretty had been called earlier in the game for doing the same thing to Kris Letang. From game to play, the refereeing is so inconsistent that it is frustrating.

The Ugly (Pulling the Goalie Backfired)

The way this game ended was ugly. Just over two minutes left, the Maple Leafs got a chance on the power play when Rust high-sticked Pontus Holmberg. This created a good and bad situation for the team on the power play. On the one hand, if you pull your goalie, you have two extra skaters on the ice. But it allows the opposition to take potshots at your net without worrying about getting called for icing. In this case, pulling Woll worked against the Maple Leafs.

The Penguins scored two goals in 14 seconds into the empty net. In an extremely close game, Pittsburgh won 5-2.

What’s Next for the Maple Leafs?

With the two losses, the Maple Leafs fall two points behind the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division with a game in hand. They will try to avoid losing three in a row when they travel to New Jersey to take on the Sheldon Keefe-coached Devils on Tuesday night. That will start the second of four, four-games-in-six-night stretches Toronto will play in December.  

While I am sure some will, there is no reason to panic over the two losses. The Maple Leafs could have easily won or at least come away with a point in both games. We are starting to see why replacement players such as Alex Steeves, Nikita Grebenkin, and Alexander Nylander are replacement players. Fraser Minton has shown that he may have what it takes to be an NHL regular, but he doesn’t seem quite ready to do it regularly.

The one player who has played exceptionally well is the defenseman now known as Phil Myers (formerly Philippe). He has been a solid substitution for Jake McCabe. As the injured players return, while there will be a period of adjustment for everyone involved, this team should be better with them back in the lineup. 

Related: The Good, Bad, & Ugly in Maple Leafs 3-1 Loss to Capitals