Leafs Running Out Of Time To Find Mojo

The Toronto Maple Leafs seemed to have found a way to start winning during their recent six-game road swing and went 5-1-2 prior to their meeting with Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday, but their poor showing in a 6-3 loss is a luxury that the club cannot afford after a poor start of the season. 

The Leafs have been forced to play a more defensively responsible style because of injuries on their blueline and between the pipes. They do not have the luxury to wait until Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo get back; they must make up ground in the next month or their chances of making the playoffs. For that to happen, their star players have to play like star players.

Auston Matthews, after Saturday, is on a 40-goal pace, which is not bad for a first-line center, but not what was needed from the league’s highest-paid player after his linemate skedaddled out of town because he could not take the pressure. More than the 13 goals, the troublesome part of Matthews this season is his eight assists. It is accepted that #34 is more of a shooter than a playmaker, but for the Leafs to be successful, they need him to be a 90-point center and not a 70-point one.

As for William Nylander, goal scorers are streaky, that is a hockey saying as old as Maple Leaf Gardens, but for a club that is more reliant on their stars than ever before, the fact that “Mr. Willie” does not have a goal in seven straight and went -3 against the Oilers is inexcusable. His lack of production to go along with John Tavares recent slump (1 goal, 2 assists in 10 games) is undoubtedly the reason why head coach Craig Berube said what he did about his club’s play in their third period in Saturday’s loss.   

“I talked to the team after the game, our leaders got to take control of it a lot more than they are right now,” Berube said. “To me, it’s all a mindset. Whether you’re down a goal or up in the San Jose game, you just got to have more urgency and be more direct on how we want to play. We didn’t do it in the third period, two games in a row.” 

Toronto has five games before the Christmas break, at home against the Connor Bedard-less Chicago Blackhawks, three games on the road in Washington, Nashville, and Dallas, and at home on the 23rd against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh. It is getting to the point this season where the Leafs have to put a string of wins together or thoughts of making the postseasons becomes a mathematical improbablity.

The club practiced at Ford Performance Centre on Monday and had Tanev on the ice participating in a full practice for the first time since being injured on November 1. Berube indicated that the blueliner will not play on Tuesday, but would not rule out his return before Christmas. Joseph Woll took part in practice and was not ruled out as a possible starter against the Hawks.