The Toronto Maple Leafs had an incredibly frustrating, high-goal, low-event game against the Seattle Kraken on Wednesday night. Despite rallying all the way back in the final minutes of the third period, Toronto was unable to come out of Climate Pledge Arena with so much as a single point.
The Rundown
I watched the first period of this game on the way back home from BMO Field, having watched Toronto FC make a dramatic comeback to stay in the playoff hunt in what will more than likely be their last home game of the season. I popped it on my phone about two minutes late while walking to Exhibition Loop, just in time to watch Mackie Samoskevich take Seattle’s second shot of the game, pinging a puck off of the cross bar, only to have it bounce off Sergei Bobrovsky’s behind and into the net.
Not an ideal way to turn in, not a great start for the Leafs. Amidst a fairly quiet first period for both teams, a Berkly Catton penalty gave the Leafs a chance to equalize on the powerplay, which they capitalized on. Following some strong puck movement around the offensive zone, Auston Matthews drove to the net, pulled in the attention of the Seattle penalty killers, and dropped the puck to an open Gavin McKenna for a top-shelf wrist shot.
The Leafs needed a better start to their second period, and instead, they proceeded to concede a goal just sixteen seconds. A quick 2-on-1 was played aggressively to the passer by both Bobrovsky and Troy Stecher, leaving a pinching Josh Mahura an open cage. Once again, a Toronto powerplay, a feed from Matthews, and a finish from McKenna evened things out, time just two minutes after the Mahura goal as McKenna buried a one-timer before Philip Grubauer could move from post to post.
A penalty to Vinni Lettieri almost immediately after the McKenna goal gave Seattle a poweprlay of their own, which Chandler Stephenson turned into Seattle’s third lead of the game, bouncing a pass initally meant for Matty Beniers off of Stecher’s skate and in. A Ryker Evans wrist shot off the left wing – reminiscient of the goals that the Flames feasted on two nights before – put Seattle up 4-2.
Toronto clawed back in the third period. Jack Roslovic scored his sixth goal of the year off a rebound with twelve minutes to go in regulation, giving the Leafs some life. With a little over a mintue remaining and the net empty, Matthews tied the game off a tough-angle one-timer, slipping the puck five hole.
As we wondered what overtime might look like, the Leafs lost a defensive zone faceoff with 40 seconds remaining. Brandon Montour gained the puck and took a low slap shot from the right hashmarks. In what might be the worst goal conceded by a Toronto goaltender this season, Bobrovsky was unable to close up his five hole in time, letting it trickle in and giving Seattle the regulation win with 33 seconds remaining.
Notes
- I think last night was the bubble-burst on the public’s feelings towards Sergei Bobrovsky. Hard to blame them. Yet another game where he forced the team to play catch up with a slow start and the game winner was inexcusible for any goalie in the league, let alone one who was brought in to be a franchise-shifter on a massive gamble.
- Alarming too with the goaltending situation was a mention from Elliotte Friedman during the second intermission that the Leafs might be weary to put Anthony Stolarz into a game cold moving forward, essentially meaning that if Toronto’s tandem is healthy enough to dress, and Bobrovsky is assumed to be carrying a starter’s share of the workload, there’s basically no recourse or pivot for a bad night anymore.
- We got to see Gavin McKenna and Auston Matthews together for chunks of last night, and it seemed to be effective, with Toronto carrying two-thirds of the shot attempts when they were together. Both lit up the scoresheet for three points a piece, though all three goals were either 5v4 or 6v5. Feels like a shame to have wasted the night.
- It was a low-event game on the whole, but nice to see the Leafs limit Seattle to just 17 shots. Would’ve been nicer without a 0.706 between the pipes.
- I know basically every point here keeps coming around to “the goaltending blew this game and there’s not much they can do about other than hope it fixes itself in the next 2.85 years”, but…
- Bobby McMann didn’t score a revenge goal, I guess? We take that, especially since he took nearly a quarter of Seattle’s shots.
- Vinni Lettieri has fought twice in the last three games or five days. Those represent half of his regular season fights going back to playing junior thirteen years ago. It’s wild to see how AAAA guys like him have to adapt their games to hang in lineups. From scoring his brains out in a Calder Cup run to trying to be a sparkplug is a heck of a pivot.
Up Next
The Maple Leafs wrap up their road trip against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night, at least in Toronto time, as it’s a 7:00 p.m. Eastern start. As always, we’ll get to hear complaints about the 4:00 p.m. puck drop from the West Coast.
Numbers Game
| Top Performers | Bottom Performers | Top Opponents |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Auston Matthews (2.42) 1G, 2A, 4 SOG, 52% xG | 1. Sergei Bobrovsky (-3.05) 12 saves, 5 GA on 1.95 xGA | 1. Mackie Samoskevich (2.91) 0G, 2A, 0 SOG, +1, 66% xG |
| 2. Gavin McKenna (1.94) 2G, 1A, 3 SOG, 47% xG | 2. Morgan Rielly (-1.22) 0G, 0A, 0 SOG, -2, 54% xG | 2. Vince Dunn (2.14) 0G, 1A, 2 SOG, -1, 67% xG |
| 3. Jack Roslovic (1.21) 1G, 1A, 1 SOG, +1, 41% xG | 3. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (-0.93) 0G, 0A, 0 SOG, 42% xG | 3. Brandon Montour (2.05) 1G, 0A, 1 SOG, +3, 41% xG |
| Shots On Goal | 21-17 TOR | Faceoffs | 31 for 59 |
| 5v5 Shot Attempts | 41-30 TOR | Hits | 32-23 TOR |
| 5v5 Expected Goals | 1.17-1.12 TOR | Blocked Shots | 11-11 TIE |
| Best Period (xG) | 5v5: 3rd (74%) All: 3rd (84%) | Powerplay | 2 for 3 (4 shots) |
| Worst Period (xG) | 5v5: 1st (41%) All: 2nd (27%) | Penalty Kill | 4 for 5 (4 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
