Bottom Six Dominate In Win Over Panthers 

The Toronto Maple Leafs faced the difficult task of playing their next six games in a row on the road, entering the long road trip with the worst record in the NHL away from Scotiabank Arena. After a pathetic effort against Montreal, the Leafs have put forth efforts more conducive to winning hockey in opposition barns, earning an OT victory over Columbus, a tight contest in a loss to Washington, and a blowout win over Pittsburgh. 

The Leafs moved to 3-2 on their longest road swing of the season with a 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena in Sunrise, FL on Tuesday. Troy Stecher, Dakota Joshua, Scott Laughton, and John Tavares scored for Toronto, and Joseph Woll made 26 saves in a win that moved the Leafs out of the Eastern Conference basement and within three points of third-place Detroit and four points in back of the two wildcard spots.  

Toronto survived an early push from a short-handed Panthers squad, who were without key forwards Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Eetu Luostarinen, and Carter Verhaeghe, and got the benefit of an early break with Stecher’s long-range shot beating Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky. Joshua extended the Leafs lead 2:30 later, and the club settled into a close-checking brand of low-event hockey for the rest of the first and most of the second. 

The vaunted five-forward power play instead of extending the Toronto lead gave Florida life late in the middle frame, as Sam Reinhart was left wide open in front of Woll to narrow the gap to 2-1. The clubs exchanged opportunities in the third, with both goalies making excellent stops, but the Leafs got some insurance as Laughton scored his first of the season on a close-in chance. 

Here are few key observations from the game:

Bottom-Six Physicality And Performance

Head coach Craig Berube should use the healthy scratch card more often, since doing that to Joshua against Columbus last Wednesday, the big winger has been a different player. From the hit on Pens defenseman Matt Dumba to just more energetic play overall, he has been a different player since being sat down. Max Domi has been better since being scratched, too. 

The combo of Joshua, Nicolas Roy, and Bobby McMann has been involved offensively in both wins over Pittsburgh and Florida, serving to take pressure off the top-six for a change. The fourth line of Laughton, Steven Lorentz, and Nick Robertson also got into the act on the insurance goal and unlike the days of Ryan Reaves, were not a liability every time they took to the ice. 

Another Brick In The Woll

Since returning on November 15, Woll has a sparkling .924 save percentage. The Leafs should have more than three wins and an OT loss in his seven starts, but had Anthony Stolarz been in goal the way he was playing in October and early November, they would have no victories. Based on how Woll has played since returning, he should get the majority of starts even when Stolarz is healthy. 

McCabe Moved Back To LD

The result of Brandon Carlo and Chris Tanev being out has resulted in a scramble of all three defensive pairings. The only place that has paid dividends is on the top pairing, where Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson have thrived, but Jake McCabe has struggled playing his off-side, and Simon Benoit is just not a top-four blueliner. Berube’s move of veteran Stecher with McCabe allowed him to move back to the left side to play higher in the lineup, and it paid off with Stecher’s two-point performance. It also allowed Benoit to play limited minutes with Philippe Myers on the bottom pairing. 

Stop The Five-Forward Power Play Madness

This was dangerous when the Leafs had Mitch “Five Goal” Marner playing the point, because he was a good distributor of the puck and a solid two-way forward. Having Auston Matthews playing the quarterback on the man advantage is just all kinds of dumb. If Morgan Rielly’s lack of a point shot is disqualifying – which shouldn’t be the case since he ran a successful unit for years – then use Ekman-Larsson. The only time the five-forward PP idea should be used is on two-man advantages; otherwise, throw it into the trash heap of history.