The Leafs didn’t exactly make life easy on themselves in Utah, but they also didn’t disappear when the game tilted against them. That was the story of the night: a messy, high-event loss that still left plenty to chew on, both in the scoreline and in how Toronto is putting this roster together right now.
Early on, Toronto looked sharp. The Leafs won the opening edge, grabbed the first power play, and spent the first stretch doing the little things that usually travel well - jumping on loose pucks, cutting off zone entries, and generally forcing the pace. For a moment, it looked like they might be in full control.
Then the game turned.
Daniil But opened the scoring, and from there the Leafs found themselves defending more than they wanted to. Toronto’s power play and penalty kill both looked fine in the first period, but the lone defensive cracks came from two players who aren’t known for that side of the puck: Morgan Rielly on the goal and Darren Raddysh on the penalty that followed after his own mistake.
The second period brought a worse kind of chaos. Toronto opened it with a group effort of stupid, and Vincent Trocheck made it 2-0 Utah.
The Leafs did get a power play soon after, and even that turned strange, with PP2 starting with Rielly and Nick Blankenburg together. The sequence had plenty going on, including a moment where the whistle probably should have gone before the goal.
A longer look at the Sergachev goal showed how messy it all was, but Auston Matthews cleaned that up by scoring on the rest of the man advantage.
That got Toronto back to 3-1, but only for a moment. Utah kept coming, and the Leafs were forced to keep trading punches just to stay close.
When the Mammoth added another one with five minutes left in the period, it felt like Toronto might be done for. Instead, Jack Roslovic pulled the Leafs within two, only for MacKenzie Weever to answer almost immediately and make it 5-2.
That was the score after two, and the numbers told their own story. The xG was roughly even at 2-2, which says a lot about how strange the game felt.
Toronto’s issue wasn’t that it couldn’t create chances. It was that team defence and Anthony Stolarz simply weren’t good enough for large stretches of the night.
And yet the Leafs kept hanging around.
The third period got even stranger. Toronto took some needless penalties, John Tavares scored, Gavin McKenna scored, and Stolarz began to settle in and make saves.
Rielly and William Nylander both came close to adding more, and it wasn’t hard to picture this game ending tied at two, or 5-5, or even 9-7 if a few bounces had gone the other way. Utah held on for a 5-4 win, but barely.
That’s where the broader concern kicks in. Toronto has now gone through two games playing 11-7, and because of injury it was effectively 11-6 at one point.
Marshall Rifai’s very low minutes last night made it feel close to that again. But this doesn’t look like a simple issue of defender injuries or fitness.
It looks more like a roster construction problem. The Leafs don’t really have 12 forwards who either bring five-on-five value or help on special teams.
They need better defenders, sure, but they also need more from the forwards. The Zack MacEwen experiment hasn’t done anything for the team, and Bo Groulx is just a placeholder.
At this point, they might as well give Miles Wood a run and see whether there’s anything there.
Still, there were real positives to take out of the night and the trip overall. The Leafs keep battling.
The penalty kill is trending better. The offence can still blow a game open.
And William Nylander keeps looking like he’s staking his claim to owning this team.
As for the last-minute sequence, Hiller put Gavin McKenna out there on the power play with the chance to tie it. That was the right move.
In Other News...
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Toronto has also done some early checking on the defense market, with one Calgary blueliner drawing exploratory interest. Nothing has advanced to the point of a formal move, and for now it remains part of the broader scan the Leafs are making as they evaluate whether there is a fit on the back end. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Power Play Decision Says A Lot About Torontos Early Priorities
Ahead of a game in Utah, Jim Hillers pregame comments offered a clear look at the Leafs early-season priorities. With Chris Tanev unavailable, Toronto has had to adjust on the back end, and Hiller pointed to the way the penalty kill has started as a positive sign while also confirming Anthony Stolarz will get the start in goal. The coach also touched on how the team is trying to manage responsibilities across the lineup as the defense absorbs a little more of the workload.
One of the more notable choices came on the power play, where John Tavares is moving back onto the top unit. It is the kind of decision that says plenty about how Toronto wants to lean on its veterans while still sorting out its new looks, especially with Auston Matthews building chemistry with Kirill Marchenko at even strength. For now, the Leafs are asking a lot of familiar names in key spots, and the way those pieces fit together could shape how quickly this group settles in. [Read more 🡒]
Leafs Chemistry Problem Is Putting Early Pressure On Jim Hiller
Early in the season, the Maple Leafs are already living with the kind of lineup experimentation that can define a coach's first few weeks on the job. Jim Hiller has been trying to sort through an evolving roster and settle on combinations that can maximize what he is getting from players such as McKenna, Matthews, Nylander and Easton Cowan, while also giving the group a chance to build some real chemistry.
The problem is that the search for the right fit can become its own source of pressure, especially when the forward group keeps changing around them. Past coaching voices have long stressed how important consistent linemates can be, and right now the Leafs are still in that awkward space where the possibilities are open but the answers are not yet clear, leaving Hiller to keep adjusting while the team waits for something to click. [Read more 🡒]