The Toronto Maple Leafs sometimes struggles against bad teams. In fact, the Arizona Coyotes seem to have their number. It’s frustrating for fans and gives way to venting that the team is playing down to its opponents.
But, are they? And, if they are, why are they? What do these teams do?
The Maple Leafs Seem to Play Better Against Better Teams: Why?
The Maple Leafs always seem to play down to their opponents but seem to be able to match the top teams in their division. If we look at last season according to Hockeyreference.com, they only had a losing record against four teams in the league in 2021-22, the Buffalo Sabres, the Arizona Coyotes, the Vancouver Canucks, and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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They had winning records vs the Ottawa Senators, the Montreal Canadiens, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the San Jose Sharks, the Anaheim Ducks, and the Seattle Kraken, all teams that finished outside the playoffs. That would suggest they don’t always play to the level of their opponents.
At times though, we have seen them struggle against teams they should be able to beat easily. The season opener in Montreal and the game at home versus the Arizona Coyotes are prime examples.
Less-Talented Teams Play Differently than More-Talented Teams
While we are sure there are a number of reasons, one that appears to stand out to us is the style of play these less-talented teams play. When the Maple Leafs are playing one of the better teams in the league, teams with more talented players, those teams will spend a good portion of the game trying to create offence.
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That act of creating offence opens them up to opportunities for the Maple Leafs. Their defensemen might pinch more, or their forwards might attempt to forecheck more to create turnovers and offensive chances for themselves. This gives the Maple Leafs more chances to turn the play the other way and catch a pinching defenseman or an overly ambitious forward.
In other words, these teams play to the Maple Leafs’ strengths.
How the Coyotes Held the Maple Leafs at Bay
Teams like the Coyotes, who know they can’t match the Maple Leafs offensively, will play a totally different game. At five-on-five as soon as the Maple Leafs are in possession of the puck they are content to back into their defensive zone and form a five-player box, or more exactly a pentagram. This allows the Maple Leafs to roam quite freely on the outside while completely tying up the ice in the high-danger scoring areas.
They force the shooters to try and shoot through them, and block those shots, or to shoot around them causing the Maple Leafs to shoot wide. As a result, the Maple Leafs’ talented forwards like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander get frustrated by their inability to penetrate the dangerous areas of the ice. This frustration leads to them pressing and taking extra chances, thus causing turnovers and odd-man rushes in the other direction.
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Of the 61 shot attempts the Maple Leafs had against Arizona, the Coyotes blocked 18 of them. The Maple Leafs missed the net on another 15 of them. Of the 61 shots the Maple Leafs had they only got 28 of them on the net.
Sometimes Defensive Shells Don’t Work When They Do – Ouch!
The team’s record from last season does show the Maple Leafs don’t always play down to their opponents. There are obviously games in which the type of game plan that Arizona used to beat the Maple Leafs doesn’t work. But when it does work, it can be a frustrating ugly thing to watch.
Fortunately for the Maple Leafs, the teams with less talent, that usually play that pure defensive style of play don’t normally qualify for the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Maple Leafs, in the past, as the playoff rounds, they have been in, in recent years get longer, the opposing teams gradually start tightening up and begin to play a more defensive game.
What Must the Maple Leafs Do to Have Success?
If the Maple Leafs are finally going to get past the first round of the playoffs, they are going to have to figure out a way to penetrate through that tight defensive shell when their opposition falls back into it.
In her post this morning, KatyaKnappe (who’s an insightful Maple Leafs’ writer) helped explain it well as she postulated about the problem the Maple Leafs have and might continue to have:
“Are the Leafs too easy to beat if you are willing to sit back and “park the bus” in front of the net until they hand you a rush chance even the worst team can convert on? How often is that going to happen, and more importantly — is it a bigger risk in the first round of the playoffs when the chance of playing someone like the Islanders or Blue Jackets is higher than in later rounds?”
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KatyaKnappe then asked, “Is this “the thing” that’s off with the Leafs? Or do we just like making patterns out of the chaos and stories out of emotions, and the Leafs have a system that is going to score even through a busload of defenders enough of the time?”
[Note: I want to thank long-time Maple Leafs’ fan Stan Smith for collaborating with me on this post. Stan’s Facebook profile can be found here.]
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