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Maple Leafs report cards: Special teams help Toronto salvage point vs. Wild

4 November 2024Last Update :
Maple Leafs report cards: Special teams help Toronto salvage point vs. Wild

The Toronto Maple Leafs have rarely been kept in games thanks to their special teams this season, but they have those units to thank for the point they earned in Minnesota on Sunday.

In a 2-1 overtime loss, Toronto was out-attempted 62-36 and outshot 29-17 at five-on-five in regulation, but crawled to overtime on the strength of a power play that finally found the back of the net and a penalty kill that stonewalled the Minnesota Wild.

Once they got there, they had no answer for Minnesota as Matt Boldy ended their night with a wrister over Anthony Stolarz, who had been excellent to that point in the game.

The Maple Leafs were close to winning on Sunday in a literal sense, but they completely ran out of gas down the stretch. Facing a difficult opponent on the road on the second night of a back-to-back brings the overall grade up, but we can’t go higher than a ‘C+’ here.

Unit grades

L1 (Knies – Matthews – Marner): C

For most of the game, the top line did a good job of controlling their minutes, even if they didn’t create too many high-danger chances.

In the third period the wheels fell off a bit, but they still didn’t concede many shots near the net, leading to an strong expected goal rate (69.64 percent). Even so, this trio had the kind of night a coach hopes to see from a checking line in the bottom six, not his first group.

On the plus side, Matthew Knies threw his body around effectively and Mitch Marner wielded a noticeably disruptive stick.

L2 (Pacioretty – Tavares – Nylander): D

Entering Sunday, this trio had outshot the opposition 26-12 and outscored it 5-1 in 34:27 at five-on-five, but it came back to earth on Sunday.

The second line spent an inordinate amount of time flailing in the defensive zone and couldn’t create much offence. In their 8:36 at five-on-five, Toronto was outshot 10-3, had an expected goal rate of 3.30% and conceded the team’s only goal in regulation.

Max Pacioretty delivered a couple of hits with conviction, and William Nylander scored on the power play, but this unit had an awful night.

L3 (McMann – Domi – Robertson): B-

It’s tough to be too critical of this group’s performance considering the Wild produced little in their minutes (0.38 expected goals) and Bobby McMann had a couple of solid chances.

At the same time, this is a unit the Maple Leafs desperately need to produce something. McMann and Max Domi have now gone seven games without a point. Nick Robertson doesn’t have quite as long a point-less streak (four games), but he’s also been in and out of the lineup.

The power play is Toronto’s sleeping giant that could put the team’s offence among the NHL’s best if it comes around, but some life from these secondary scorers is also a significant factor.

L4 (Lorentz – Kämpf – Reaves): C-

Ryan Reaves did his thing from a physical standpoint and Steven Lorentz had a decent chance of the rush late in the game, but this group didn’t achieve much.

The trio was only outshot by a modest amount (3-4), but managed an expected goal rate of just 20.25 percent.

D1 (Rielly – Ekman-Larsson): C+

Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson tend to stand out for one reason or another, and in this one, it was OEL in particular making his presence felt. The 33-year-old made one of the best defensive plays of the game in the first period to prevent a Kirill Kaprizov chance…

… and came close to finding the back of the net at four-on-four early in the second.

His night took a downturn when he took a needless double-minor at the end of the middle frame that could have put Toronto into a tough spot.

Rielly had a steadier effort with fewer highs and lows, but by the end of the night the pair’s on-ice numbers together were middling as they were slightly underwater across the board and particularly poor on expected goals (35.77 percent).

D2 (McCabe – Tanev): A-

Toronto’s best defensive pair executed on their assignment against Minnesota. Some of their possession numbers were middling, but the Wild were mainly kept to low-percentage perimeter looks against them.

Entering the game, one of the dominant narratives was the unbelievable start Kaprizov is off to with 21 points in 12 games, and these two were able to keep the superstar under wraps. Neither Jake McCabe nor Chris Tanev were on the ice for more than two shots or 0.11 expected goals against the Russian at five-on-five, even though both logged close to seven minutes in that matchup.

As per usual Tanev lived up to his reputation as a warrior with four blocks, and perhaps the best example of his inclination to sacrifice the body was a play that won’t show up in the box score.

D3 (Benoît – Timmins): C-

It would be unfair to expect this third pair to win their minutes consistently, but they lost handily on Sunday.

When Simon Benoît and Conor Timmins were on the ice at five-on-five, Toronto was outshot 12-5 and gave up some significant chances, leading to an ugly expected goal rate (22.93 percent).

Minnesota scored its only five-on-five goal against the pair and managed 55.9 percent of their expected goals against them. On a good night for this duo, Timmins makes a couple of creative offensive plays and Benoit delivers a few sturdy hits — but neither had memorable positive moments today.

Power play: A

Going against a penalty-killing unit with a 66.7 percent success rate on the season seemed like a perfect opportunity for this group to get going, and that’s precisely what the Maple Leafs did with Nylander delivering the team’s first power-play goal since October 21.

Toronto introduced a new wrinkle by using an all-forward group including the Core Four and Knies. While that grouping didn’t impress on the team’s first power-play — leading coach Craig Berube to open the second one with a different unit — it ultimately found its way.

An ‘A’ might be a touch generous here, but breaking out of a massive funk was an important moment for the team.

Penalty kill: A

Minnesota entered this game with the NHL’s 10th-best power play, and Toronto allowed the Wild to fire off just three shots in six minutes with the man advantage.

Stolarz played a role in this unit’s success as two of those shots were extremely dangerous, but the Maple Leafs were aggressive and effective on the kill.

Erasing a double minor that spanned the second and third periods could’ve been a turning point in the game if the team had generated anything offensively in the late stages.

Goaltender (Stolarz): A-

Stolarz looked sharp in his first appearance since Monday, stopping 31 of the 33 shots he faced and robbing Wild shooters on a couple of occasions.

One peculiar aspect of his night was that he lost his stick at least four times, but that didn’t cost him at any point so it’s tough to bring the grade down for that reason.

Expecting him to bail his team out when the Wild had a two-on-zero in overtime would have been asking too much.

Game score

What’s next?

Coming home to take on the Bruins at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday on TSN.

(Photo: Brace Hemmelgarn / Imagn Images)

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