BOSTON — In the immediate aftermath of a 4-3 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins — Toronto’s third loss in a row — things were starting to sound different for the Maple Leafs.
They struck a much more optimistic tone than following their previous two losses. More forward-leaning, less about taking ownership for their play the way they did after being embarrassed by the Columbus Blue Jackets and the St. Louis Blues earlier in the week.
“Close,” head coach Craig Berube said when asked where the team is at right now compared to where he wants it to be. “I thought we got back to checking better tonight, we were hard around our net, hard in the battles. Offensively, we can do more. We have a lot of offensive zone time in these games and we’ve got to get better at creating a little bit more over that time.”
And it’s a warranted attitude, to an extent. There were far more signs of encouragement in the Leafs’ play against the Bruins compared to their two previous languishing efforts.
But zoom out and the Leafs still find themselves at 4-4-1 after nine games. Sound familiar? That’s the same record they owned after nine games in 2021-22 and 2022-23. They had only one more win to their name after nine games last season, too.
As the familiar Bruins victory song, The Standells’ “Dirty Water,” echoed through TD Garden while the Leafs packed up their gear after the game, it certainly felt like the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Even with a new coach in tow, so much of what plagued this core in the past has re-emerged through this mini-slump.
There was the slow start: The Bruins heavily outworked the Leafs through the first period, with the visitors not putting up a single high-danger chance at five-on-five through 20 minutes. Only a late-game push driven by their core led to a tying goal with just over a minute remaining in overtime. And it was that core that drove the team’s production. Seven points combined from Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, Morgan Rielly and John Tavares is good, but a further reminder that this team lacks necessary secondary scoring. The way this team is assembled, if the Leafs’ core isn’t producing, they’re in trouble.
Oh, and if you haven’t heard, the Leafs’ power play still lacks synchronicity and most importantly, punch. They went 0-for-3 with the man advantage against the Bruins. That included a five-on-three, though the Leafs didn’t have much to show for it. The Leafs’ power play has sunk to a 10 percent conversion rate on the season.
Slow starts, a misfiring power play, defensive miscues and a lack of secondary scoring are not new problems for this team.
But they’re still problems Berube is likely witnessing up close and in full colour for the first time in his Leafs tenure.
After a start to the season that had the feel of a different Leafs team, Berube’s honeymoon period certainly feels over. He was brought in to give this Leafs group a different identity. Whether Berube can right lingering wrongs and develop consistency within this group will determine if they can truly latch on to that identity he desires.
“It takes time,” Matthews said of learning Berube’s new approach. “Sometimes it’s not going to click perfectly, right away. I think you just want to take positive steps in the right direction.”
Though there were definitive signs of life against the Bruins, can Berube get his big guns in the best spots so they can produce more consistently?
The Leafs stars deserve credit for their late-game push against the Bruins. Marner was at his electric best with three assists, including his best of the season to set up Rielly’s goal.
That magic was rielly nice 🪄🤭 pic.twitter.com/oiPcmYf7PY
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 27, 2024
But often throughout this losing streak Matthew Knies, the second-year pro, has looked like the team’s best — or at least most noticeable — forward.
“We’ve got to get more shots from the top through, that’s one thing,” Berube said. “And look to shoot a little quicker. I think that there’s times where, in the third period, all our forwards were jammed at the net and we couldn’t get (the puck) through. We’ve got to pop off and create some separation a little bit more in the offensive zone.”
Then there’s the slow start. Can Berube get his team to rise to his heightened physical demands for long stretches of the season?
Up and down the lineup, the Leafs have looked like the more fatigued group in each of their last three games. Second to loose pucks. A step short when trying to shut down the opposition through the neutral zone.
Berube asked more of this team through a physically demanding training camp. Is that catching up with them as their schedule starts to cramp up?
And being a step slow hurt the Leafs in their defensive zone play, particularly in the second period.
After a turnover in their own zone, Anthony Stolarz made a crucial save on Bruins forward Trent Frederic. But as the Leafs crowded Frederic, Bruins forward Justin Brazeau easily stuffed home a rebound.
Bruins forward Mark Kastelic was then left wide open in front of the Leafs goal and didn’t need long at all to give the Bruins their second goal in less than a minute.
In overtime, Matthews anticipated a teammate being nearby but turned the puck over just before Brad Marchand’s game-winning goal.
“It was a tough play on Auston,” Berube said. “We’ve got to support him a little bit better on that play. We left him alone there. It was a mistake by everybody out there.”
Can Berube get this team to tighten up defensively game after game?
“Obviously there’s always going to be little mistakes you’d like to clean up. I think the power play is still looking to improve,” Rielly said.
Finally, that power play.
Again, to the Leafs’ credit, there seems to be an understanding of what ails them with the man advantage.
“Just execution,” Rielly said of their struggles to cleanly enter the offensive zone with the man advantage. “In the grand scheme of things, when you look at the game and it might not be going your way, it all comes down to execution and then it goes out from there.”
Putting that into practice remains a different story. For Berube and his coaching staff, breaking this team out of its power-play funk could be the spark it needs to get back in the win column early in the season.
The Leafs coach has now experienced the highs and lows of this team through October. The honeymoon period of a new coach is in the rearview mirror.
Changing this team for good now feels like a far weightier task than expected earlier in the month.
(Photo of the Maple Leafs beginning to leave the ice as the Bruins celebrate: Winslow Townson / Imagn Images)
