It was a listless performance from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday evening, as they were soundly defeated 5-1 by the St. Louis Blues. Craig Berube squared off against his former team and emphasized merely getting the two points, rather than focusing on the many fond memories he had with his previous club. And any fond memories would’ve quickly dissipated in any event.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored Toronto’s lone goal of the evening, after Berube amended the lines in the second period, pairing him with Morgan Rielly, while Jake McCabe was partnered with Chris Tanev, who will likely want to forget his 800th NHL game.
Dylan Holloway scored twice, while Philip Broberg, Alexandre Texier and Jake Neighbours added singles for the Blues.
Here’s what you need to know from the Maple Leafs’ 5-1 loss to the Blues:
Auston Matthews and Toronto’s first line continues to struggle after stellar six games
Through six games, even in losing efforts, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies looked like a bonafide top line, capable of taking on some of the league’s toughest assignments, while generating a ton of shots — Matthews entered Thursday’s games as the league leader in shots, and was due for some positive regression, while Knies was Toronto’s best player in Tuesday’s loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. But even the most optimistic view of statistics couldn’t disguise a poor performance from Matthews against a Blues team that was without their best forward in Robert Thomas. If you do want the stats, however: Marner and Matthews finished a team-worst 28.4 and 33.1 percent share of the expected goals at 5-on-5, respectively, via Natural Stat Trick.
Matthews indirectly screened Joseph Woll on the game’s opening goal, then he fumbled a handoff from Woll behind his own net, Jake McCabe lost a puck battle and Alexandre Texier shot it through Chris Tanev’s legs for a 3-1 Blues lead midway through the second period. After his crucial mistake on the Texier goal, Berube appeared to rip into Matthews and his line on the bench. Mitch Marner was often out of position, didn’t drive offensive results, and while he’s had some decent results — namely his performance against Nikita Kucherov on Monday, he hasn’t displayed the type of individual defense that earned him a Selke finalist designation two years ago.
Toronto was outshot 10-5 when Matthews was on the ice at 5-on-5 — they outshot St. Louis 14-12 in all situations, which is largely inflated by his time on the team’s power play, which continues to be a sore spot for the team through the opening eight games, and the Maple Leafs’ stars were booed loudly by the end of the third period.
Matthews, to his credit, took accountability for his performance post-game.
“Light on pucks, losing battles, opened up the net front tonight. It’s pretty simple. It was just a bad game all around, up and down through the lineup. It starts with me. But yeah, there’s obviously a lot of things we didn’t do good tonight.”
“The third goal is just not doing things right and it was lazy hockey on the goal. That’s the bottom line,” Berube assessed post-game.
In some ways, it’s analogous to Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery criticizing Brad Marchand for a critical mistake against the Utah Hockey Club, which led to a key goal, then Marchand taking accountability for his actions in a lengthy media availability the following day. Matthews took accountability for a poor performance, and that’s all you can ask for. It was a rough night for one of the world’s best players and it’s too early in the season to make a definitive criticism of his performance writ large when he’s due for some positive regression.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson benefits from change of scenery, continues to attack the net
Berube put the lines in a blender after a tough first period and Oliver Ekman-Larsson was the direct beneficiary of the changes. Ekman-Larsson was paired with Morgan Rielly for the duration of the game and he wired home a one-timer, cutting the deficit to 2-1 in the second period. It was the closest Toronto would get to closing the gap, despite winning the shot differential 41-27, the most silent shot parade you’ll ever witness.
Ekman-Larsson was the best Maple Leafs’ defenceman by several fathoms, he continues to log the most minutes on the team, weathering a team high 22:40. After the game, Ekman-Larsson took accountability for the team’s poor performance.
“I think we got to get back to defending hard. We’ve allowed 10, 11 goals in the last two games. I don’t think that’s going to cut it,” Ekman-Larsson said post game.
“It’s not good enough. Obviously, coming out pretty flat, two games in a row. That’s got to be better. That’s on us to get better and make sure we’re ready to go.”
It’ll be compelling to see whether Ekman-Larsson-Rielly remain together, as it allows the Maple Leafs to stack their two best offensive defencemen together, and give Berube a larger sample to draw from, after stapling his top-four defencemen together, with Simon Benoit playing with one of Conor Timmins and Timothy Liljegren to begin the year. There’s an intentionality to every shift he takes and Ekman-Larsson was the best player in a losing effort.
William Nylander takes account for turnover, poor situational awareness
Auston Matthews struggled throughout the night, while William Nylander’s quietly stellar night was overshadowed by a costly mistake in his offensive zone. Jake McCabe surveyed the ice, looked off the fourth line, then found Nylander entering the zone with speed. Nylander tried to make a clever move to elude two Blues players, but he was picked by Jake Neighbours, who worked in tandem with Brayden Schenn on a give-and-go, then beat Woll off the rush to make it 4-1 and effectively stomp out the Leafs’ chances.
Nylander was contrite for the mistake after the game, noting that it would’ve been different he had tried to remain inventive in the final two minutes.
“At that point in the game, 3-1, I mean, 17 minutes left, there’s still a lot time. If there were two minutes left in the game, that would be a different situation. That’s gotta be better situational awareness on my part.”
Nylander drove the play and continued to work well in tandem with Max Domi, with a 21-10 shot differential when he was on the ice at 5-on-5. Unfortunately, this is merely academic but Nylander knows this and took account for it, as the Maple Leafs look to move onto a hotly contested game against the Boston Bruins on Saturday.
“I mean, we’ve sure taken a dip. That’s on me and everybody else on the team to pick it up a notch starting with practice tomorrow.”
Woll settles in during season debut, makes two critical stops and his teammates have his back
Joseph Woll returned from injured reserve to make his season debut against his hometown St. Louis Blues. Woll initially struggled during the first period, allowing a routine point shot from Philip Broberg past him in the first period, although he was screened by Pavel Buchnevich, and inadvertently screened by Matthews.
“I thought I settled in a bit,” Woll said post-game. “I thought our guys looked good in front of me. I’d maybe like to have one or two back and unfortunately it’s the difference in the game.”
Woll was correct. He made two excellent stops in the second half of the first period, stopping Brayden Schenn on a breakaway, then making a critical, sprawling save on Mathieu Joseph to keep the Leafs in the game. It’s clear Anthony Stolarz will start against the Bruins as Woll works his way back into form, but he wasn’t necessarily the problem on Thursday.
And it’s clear his teammates have his back, as well.
“I think he played really well. It’s great to have him back,” Nylander said of Woll.
“It’s tough when we’re giving up odd-man (rushes) that way and turning pucks over,” Matthews said. “It’s tough to bounce back into your first game and come back into net.”
Some quick hits
- It remains unclear what Timothy Liljegren will have to do to regain his place in the lineup. It’s not that Timmins has played poorly, rather that the door remains open for the No. 6 spot in the Maple Leafs’ lineup. It doesn’t seem like Saturday’s game against the Bruins is the optimal time to try out combinations, but perhaps Philippe Myers factors in.
- We’ll expand on this later and I wrote as much, but the problem with the Maple Leafs’ power play are the entries. It’s become too static and it works when Matthews or Nylander enter the zone with a ton of speed. Toronto has already made Ekman-Larsson the power play quarterback, so it’ll be interesting to see if any changes are made ahead of Saturday.
- Chris Tanev will want to forget the result of his 800th NHL game. He’s been stellar throughout the season, a terrific shot-blocking presence and generally, an excellent partner for Morgan Rielly. Like Matthews and Nylander, even the world’s best players can have rough outings and his return to top form will be counted on in a marquee game against Boston.
