The honeymoon period for new head coach Craig Berube and the Toronto Maple Leafs could be over. Just a week ago, an emphatic 5-2 home victory over the rival Tampa Bay Lightning drove home the positive early vibes surrounding the club. Anthony Stolarz was shining in net, the club’s newfound defensive depth was delivering, and Toronto was demonstrating a toughness and intensity instilled by their new coach.
However, much of that goodwill was undone when the win over Tampa Bay was followed by a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, a disappointing home effort that resulted in a 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues and yet another frustrating finish against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. It was a three-game stretch that produced just a single point and 14 goals against. It doesn’t get any easier for the Maple Leafs with a match-up against the NHL-best Winnipeg Jets on Monday night.
Here’s a look at what went wrong during a rough week for Leafs Nation:
Maple Leafs Start Slow
In each of the past four seasons, Toronto has not only recorded more first-period goals than their opponent, but they have allowed fewer goals in the first frame than in any other period. Sure, protecting early leads wasn’t a certainty under former head coach Sheldon Keefe, but those teams had a knack for putting themselves in an advantageous situation to win.
THE BLUE JACKETS ARE UP 3-0 ON THE LEAFS IN THE FIRST PERIOD#NHL pic.twitter.com/GkzNgvIGlL
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) October 23, 2024
These past three games have offered a prime example of what the inverse looks like, especially against the Blue Jackets and Blues when the Maple Leafs fell behind by three and two goals, respectively, in the opening 20 minutes. The trickle-down effect of those early deficits was significant.
By struggling out of the gate, the Maple Leafs denied Dennis Hildeby and Joseph Woll, the starting goaltenders in the respective games and two young netminders in desperate need of a confidence boost, any early momentum they had hoped to gain (more on them later). Going down 3-0 to Columbus created a mounting mental obstacle for an already-tired team, while Thursday’s early 2-0 hole against St. Louis took the home crowd out of it.
For the Maple Leafs to open Thursday’s game as poorly as they did was particularly surprising. Not only were they coming off an embarrassing loss with an opportunity to send a message to their home fans, but they were also hosting their coach’s former club.
At least against the Bruins, Toronto didn’t surrender any first-period goals. However, they were outshot 10-5 in the frame, with Boston dominating both puck possession and physical play in a game that resembled the recent history between the two clubs all too closely.
Goaltenders Not Named Stolarz
Allowing 14 goals over three games means that no one in the Maple Leafs zone was doing a good job of keeping the puck out of the net. However, after allowing four goals against Boston, the free-agent acquisition Stolarz did everything in his power to keep his team in the game, including dazzling saves on initial scoring opportunities before Justin Brazeu’s second-period goal and Brad Marchand’s overtime winner.
The issues in net boil down to who else can make a save for the Maple Leafs. Against the Blue Jackets and Blues, neither Hildeby nor Woll offered a satisfactory answer to that question. Hildeby got the nod against the Blue Jackets for his second career NHL start, and it didn’t go nearly as well as the first.
The 23-year-old was shelled to the tune of six goals on 38 shots. His demotion to the American Hockey League on Thursday came largely because Woll was ready to return to the crease, but Tuesday’s performance certainly didn’t help his case to stay with the Maple Leafs. He’ll still have to perform well to remain the No. 1 option with the Toronto Marlies, ahead of veteran Matt Murray and rookie standout Artur Akhtyamov.
Hildeby’s replacement, Woll, didn’t fare much better in his return from injury. By allowing four goals on 26 shots to his hometown team, the 26-year-old showed that he still has work to do to get his timing back in the aftermath of a groin injury that cost him the first few weeks of the season. Nothing is alarming about Woll needing time to get himself back to game speed, and neither he nor Hildeby was the primary reason for the losses. That said, Toronto will need more than one goalie who can be counted on, especially since Stolarz can’t be expected to be perfect every night (as Saturday demonstrated).
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Maple Leafs Offence Isn’t Clicking
Sure, 14 goals allowed over three games is not impressive, but six goals scored across those same three games (including three against the Blue Jackets and Blues) also doesn’t give a team much chance to win. Over the three losses, only Matthew Knies (two) has more than one goal. Auston Matthews forced overtime on Saturday by tipping in a pretty Mitch Marner pass late in the third period. Otherwise, the key forwards have been eerily quiet over this tough stretch, with William Nylander remaining pointless in all three games.
It is the responsibility of the Core Four to be driving the offence, and they simply haven’t. On Thursday, Berube seemed to be sending a message to his high-profile forwards, keeping the top two lines off the ice for an extended stretch of the third period.
This isn’t an isolated problem. The Maple Leafs rank 23rd league-wide in goals scored per game this season (2.89); for context, they rank second in the NHL over their eight-year postseason streak. They have fared even worse with the man advantage, recording a 10% success rate, good for 29th in the league (compared to 24% and seventh overall last season). Toronto needs their biggest stars to drive the effort – both at even strength and on the power play – toward being a dangerous forward corps, again.
There is certainly nothing to panic about yet. However, within these two dispirited performances lie troubling trends that have taken a lot of the positivity out of the Maple Leafs’ encouraging start. If Toronto gets back to playing responsible, consistent hockey, then this will be a minor blip amidst 82 games. If this hints at larger issues, then starting the game poorly, getting iffy goaltending and struggling to find offence could become very costly very quickly.
