Three Takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ 5-1 Loss to the Sabres

In a word, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres was – awful. The Maple Leafs couldn’t seem to get anything going. The Sabres beat them to the puck consistently; seemed to tip away pass after pass; and, seemed to win races down the ice all night long. 

Tip, chase, and win were three words that described the game for the Sabres. Then, when the Sabres broke in on goal, which they seemed to do consistently, they also seemed to have an easy time putting the puck past beleaguered goalie Petr Mrazek.

Honestly, this game was far from good for the home team playing in front of a packed house. The offense was dormant, and the defense was porous. From the beginning of the second period onward, it simply seemed as if this was a game the Maple Leafs were destined to lose. And they did.

Related: Maple Leafs Quick Hits: Lineup Changes, Mrazek’s Start & Tavares’ Success

Takeaway Number One: Petr Mrazek Was Unable to Stop the Puck

Petr Mrazek simply did not stop a puck often enough. He battled and lost, and the defense in front of him didn’t help very much. Then, when a Sabres player shot the puck from distance or was in the crease for a tap-in, the puck seemed to cross the goal one way or another. 

Mrazek certainly couldn’t be faulted on the first goal, when the puck took a crazy bounce off Morgan Riley as he crossed in front of his goalie in open ice. However, after that bit of bad luck, there certainly were shots he would have wanted back.

In the end, Mrazek gave up five goals on 31 shots in last night’s 5-1 loss to the Sabres. He had been playing well enough over his last eight games to post a winning record and had, in fact, only given up more than three goals just twice during those eight games. It wasn’t his night.

Personally, even worse for Mrazek is that he was given a chance to win the goal from Jack Campbell – who’s also been having his own troubles. He wasn’t able to do so. Now it’s back to the drawing board for the Maple Leafs’ brain trust as they face the Vancouver Canucks who come into the house on Saturday. 

Takeaway Number Two: Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner Had Nothing 

As Maple Leafs’ head coach Sheldon Keefe noted after the game, the first line didn’t seem to have much chemistry last night. In fact, what he said specifically was “The Matthews line has been lights out for us for a while. They get a goal in the first, but that is a line that has been getting us going and getting us rolling. That is as bad as they’ve played in a long time.”

Personally, as I watched the game, I kept waiting for things to change and for the first line to become dominant yet again. It wasn’t to be. Although Matthews was only a minus-2 on the night, he seemed to be on the ice every time the Sabres scored.

Mitch Marner was the same. Little seemed to be going right for the twosome. In fact, in the third period, Keefe moved Marner to the Tavares line and William Nylander up to the first line. That didn’t work either. 

Takeaway Number Three: Rasmus Sandin Played Like a Rookie

Rasmus Sandin seemed to be in trouble all night long. He scored the first goal for the Maple Leafs, which was a beauty. But that was his one shining moment. For the rest of the night, he simply seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Call it bad luck or bad bounces, but he didn’t seem to be able to corral the puck when he needed to. As a result, he always seemed to be chasing the play – and coming up short.

As coach Keefe reminded fans after the game, sometimes Sandin’s going to play poorly because he “is a 21-year-old defenseman with fewer than 100 games in the league. He is playing on the top pair and playing lots on his off-side. There is a lot going on there.”

Keefe’s point was that rookies can make mistakes and this game might become a learning experience. The last point to the media was “Let’s not focus too much on Rasmus.”

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