We wondered if it would be a trap game, and boy, was it ever a trap game. The Toronto Maple Leafs had a very disappointing night at the office on Monday, falling 5-2 to the Calgary Flames in a game that they were occasionally within reach of, but yet never really “in”.
The Rundown
It took ten minutes for the Maple Leafs to fall behind in this one, as a well placed but still low-probability shot off the rush from Matvei Gridin gave the Flames the game’s first goal. Two minutes later, a turnover from Easton Cowan led to two quick passes and another top-shelf goal past Sergei Bobrovsky, this time from Mikael Backlund.
Tempers flared a couple of times in the late first period as the Leafs searched for a spark, and early in the second, it didn’t appear to work, as Gridin ripped yet another high shot off the wing past Bobrovsky to make it a 3-0 game. Easton Cowan got Toronto on the board midway through the period, going to the net and redirecting a slap-pass from Troy Stecher to give the Leafs some life.
William Nylander made it a 3-2 game in the third period after rebounding a pair of attempts from Jack Roslovic and Auston Matthews, but that’s as close as Toronto got to coming back. An opportunity to tie the game looked possible when the Leafs went on the powerplay a minute after the Nylander goal, but it was negated by a faceoff violation penatly to a fallen Auston Matthews on the first puck drop of the man advantage. Another Matthews penalty five minutes kept the Leafs from snowballing any more momentum, and the Flames eventually buried two emepty netters in the final 90 seconds.
Notes
- A very up and down night for Easton Cowan. He got Toronto’s first goal, tried to light a spark in the late first, and played eager hockey, but had significant responsiblity in for the chances that led to the first two goals against. It happens.
- The most encouraging thing to come out of Cowan’s yo-yo night, and the game in general, might have been Auston Matthews’ response to the media when asked about Cowan’s game. “We win as a team and we lose as a team. It’s not on one individual guy. I took some penalties with less than ten minutes to go when we’re trying to tie up the game. There’s a number of factors that go into losses and wins. For us, we’re going to stick together through it all.” It’s a mature response that shows Matthews is really starting to grow into the captaincy of the team.
- With that said, he was as confused as everyone about his first penalty, which seemed more like a grazed glove after falling rather than covering or intentionally playing the puck. “I don’t even know exaclty what the rule is, if you have to cover it or whatever” Matthews said. “But I’ve got a lot of respct for the refs. They’re going to make what they feel is the right call.”
- Troy Stecher keeps piecing together some strong games after a cold spell. Another night with a point and control on the right side of the ice.
- Sergei Bobrovsky needs this game back. I know that defenders of him will say that he stepped up in the later periods, but it doens’t matter when you let in three goals of the nature of Calgary’s. Yes, they were well-placed shots, but three high shots that didn’t look particularly close to being stopped is a tough pill to swallow and created the hole that the Leafs couldn’t dig out of in the first place.
- A major concern in this one is an injury to Kirll Marchenko, who left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury and didn’t return. It appeared to be soemthing to do with his knee, which always worries you. Toronto really can’t afford to lose another top-six forward right now, even with the depth guys starting to pick up a little bit.
Up Next
The Maple Leafs get a day off before taking on the Seattle Kraken in the penultimate game of this Western Conference road trip. Puck drop for that game will be at 10:00 p.m.
Numbers Game
| Top Performers | Bottom Performers | Top Opponents |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Troy Stecher (2.64) 0G, 1A, 1 SOG, +1, 65% xG | 1. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (-2.37) 0G, 0A, 3 SOG, -2, 21% xG | 1. Matvei Gridin (3.58) 2G, 1A, 5 SOG, +2, 77% xG |
| 2. Morgan Rielly (2.16) 0G, 1A, 1 SOG, +1, 55% xG | 2. Darren Raddysh (-1.87) 0G, 0A, 3 SOG, -2, 29% xG | 2. Martin Pospisil (3.06) 1G, 1A, 2 SOG, +2, 85% xG |
| 3. Jack Roslovic (1.89) 0G, 1A, 1 SOG, -1, 79% xG | 3. Jake McCabe (-1.46) 0G, 0A, 0 SOG, -1, 36% xG | 3. Joel Farabee (2.55) 1G, 1A, 2 SOG, +2, 50% xG |
| Shots On Goal | 34-28 CGY | Faceoffs | 23 for 57 |
| 5v5 Shot Attempts | 46-33 NYI | Hits | 24-23 CGY |
| 5v5 Expected Goals | 2.4-1.7 CGY | Blocked Shots | 16-4 TOR |
| Best Period (xG) | 5v5: 1st (56%) All: 1st (52%) | Powerplay | 0 for 2 (3 shots) |
| Worst Period (xG) | 5v5: 2nd (24%) All: 3rd (28%) | Penalty Kill | 4 for 5 (7 shots) |
Table 1: Game Score via Dom, HockeyStatCards reccomended for full-game results
Table 2: Derived from NHL.com and Natural Stat Trick
Heatmap: via Natural Stat Trick
