Matthews Masterclass As Maple Leafs Show Life In Calgary
There has been a ton of buzz in Leafs Nation over the past week as the Toronto Maple Leafs blew four straight leads, leading to them falling out of a divisional playoff spot for 24 hours before beating the Calgary Flames 4-3 in the Saddledome on Thursday night.
While there are still a ton of questions this team has to answer before the fanbase quiets back down, there were a lot of positives to take away from this win against the Flames as Head Coach Sheldon Keefe went on to call it “one of the best third periods we have played all season” in his post-game interview.
Maple Leafs Offense Is Their Defense
It is no secret that the Maple Leafs struggle defensively and that is one of the massive issues that have to be addressed whether that be through structural changes from the coaching staff and players or through addition or subtraction at the trade deadline, but the Maple Leafs will have a lot more success defending leads if they continue to push offensively and control the puck in the offensive zone as they did in Calgary defending yet another third period lead.
During the Maple Leafs four-game losing streak their opponents had 34 scoring chances to the Maple Leafs 25 and nine high-danger chances to the Maple Leafs five in third periods of those four blown Maple Leaf leads. On Thursday night in Calgary, it was a completely different story. The Maple Leafs had 12 scoring chances to the Flames' three and had nine high-danger shot attempts while not giving one up to the Flames in the third period.
Granted there was a Flames goal taken off the board in the third period that almost made things scary. But it was disallowed for a reason, and the Maple Leafs ended up winning the expected goal battle 2.43-0.28 in the third period. You cannot take away that the Maple Leafs played an amazing final 20 minutes and if we can see that more consistently from the group, they will have a lot more success closing out games.
Auston Matthews Takeover
Early Thursday night against the Flames, the Maple Leafs looked flat, they gave up two goals within five minutes of each other in the first period and found themselves having to claw back from a two-goal deficit, at least that was until Matthews found the puck hop on his stick in the offensive zone with a minute and a half left in the opening period and made no mistake putting it in the back of the net trimming the lead to one.
After that, Matthews took this one over. While on the ice he had a 66.67% scoring chance percentage and 77.38% high danger chance percentage. He finished with four points, three goals, and one assist. On top of that, Matthews had five shots on nine attempts, and three individual high-danger scoring chances.
Some Sign of Life From The Captain?
Although John Tavares's pointless streak was extended to six games on Thursday night, he did flash offensively accounting for 0.77 of the Maple Leafs 4.19 expected goals. He also registered five shots and three individual high-danger chances on the night. At least his scoring chance numbers come back up, in time the goals will come, Tavares is too good around the net, it is just a matter of time before they start going in again.
Tavares’s night was not all positive though. He played 16:43 at five-on-five and finished with a 37.50% shot attempt percentage and 35.71 unblocked shot attempted percentage while on the ice, both the worst of any other Maple Leaf in the game and was on the ice for two of the three goals against.
Sheldon Keefe’s Mini Experiment
At times tonight, we saw Sheldon Keefe experiment with Tavares alongside Matthews and Mitch Marner on the top line playing the wing and I think it is worth more of a look. When Matthews wants to he can be very solid on the defensive end, we saw it Thursday night against the Flames. It just feels like Tavares may be getting too slow to fulfil the 250-foot role that the Center is responsible for and his offense is struggling because he is spending most of the time in the defensive zone.
Playing alongside Matthews and Marner he could still take faceoffs, as he is by far and away the best on the draw for this Maple Leafs team, but could allow Matthews to take the defensive responsibilities of the Center. This could allow a possible second line of Max Domi, William Nylander and Pontus Holmberg. Although not ideal, in the 18 minutes Domi and Nylander have played together they have a 53.8% expected goal percentage, add in the one game Nylander and Holmberg played on the same line, they had a 63.6% expected goal percentage with Auston Matthews.
Keefe has been trying everything recently, and if he wants to shake up the lines again I think this is an experiment that could be worth a look. I’m not saying it’s gonna work, but Tavares and Tyler Bertuzzi were not working on the second line, having the worst and second worst shots for percentages over the last 1o games. Holmberg has played well in his limited chances with the core four, and I think Max Domi needs an honest shot with William Nylander, he may not be a defensive upgrade from Tavares but at least he’ll bring some speed alongside Nylander.
We’ll see if Keefe shakes things up at all as the Maple Leafs continue their road trip out west in Vancouver on Saturday night.
All Data From NaturalStatTrick
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