Jim Hiller didn’t spend much time entertaining the idea of making a change in net during the Leafs’ 5-4 loss to Seattle.
When asked whether he considered pulling Sergei Bobrovsky, Hiller was blunt: “No. Not at all.”
That answer fit the rest of his postgame tone after a one-goal loss that swung on the kind of late moment that leaves a bench stunned. The Leafs had just tied the game, only to give up the deciding goal with 33 seconds left.
“You can imagine, right? Everybody’s pretty excited when we tie it, and then it’s just a dagger when the last one goes in.”
Hiller said the game never really opened up, even if his group came out on the wrong side of it. He described it as a tight night from start to finish.
“I thought it was a close game. I thought we could’ve played better.
There’s no question. But it was tight.”
He pointed to the shot count - “22-17, or something like that” - as part of the picture, with neither side creating a ton of separation.
The penalties, though, were a different story. Hiller said the calls in the second period disrupted the team’s rhythm and wiped out momentum right after a stretch when the Leafs had cashed in on the power play.
“In the second period, I really didn’t like the first call. I didn’t like the call on Lettieri.
We had just scored two power-play goals, so you know what’s going to happen. I didn’t like that call.”
He added that the rest of the calls were penalties in his view, including one later in the game.
“The other calls were penalties for me. Then we get into the third period.
I didn’t like the push on Mermis, but those are the calls. We have to deal with them.”
“There’s no question it took a lot of our momentum away in the second period.”
Bobrovsky’s night also came up, with Hiller offering a mixed assessment. He didn’t pin the loss on the goalie, but said the final goal was one Bobrovsky would likely want back.
“I thought he was all right. The last one, he probably would want that one back.
But one goes off a toe, one goes off a stick. That part of it, he can’t do much.”
“The last one, he probably wants back.”
Hiller also said he had no thought of switching goalies at any point in the game.
“Not at all. No, not at all.”
Beyond the result, he spent time on the way the team is still sorting through combinations, especially with John Tavares and Kirill Marchenko out. He said those absences aren’t small ones to absorb because of the minutes those players normally carry.
“John and Marchy are both 18-, 19-minute-a-night players when they’re going. That’s a lot of minutes.
It’s not just that you’re filling 10 or 12 minutes. Those are big minutes.”
And he made clear the lineup puzzle still isn’t solved.
“I don’t know that we’re completely settled with that yet.”
Hiller also touched on the chemistry between Gavin McKenna and Auston Matthews, saying the pair showed well on the power play but not as much at five-on-five.
“On the power play, for sure. Five-on-five, I didn’t think they did all that much, to be honest with you.
But definitely on the power play. Then six-on-five is six-on-five.”
“Beautiful goals on the power play, no question.”
Even with the late collapse, Hiller said the overall competitive level was there. The issue, in his view, was the handful of mistakes that Seattle made them pay for.
“I thought we competed hard. We made two mistakes, two two-on-ones, and had three or four breakout turnovers in the first period.
Cost us chances. One cost us a goal.”
“There were just six or seven key breakdowns. Outside of that, they didn’t have much. We kept them to the outside, just like they did for us.”
“We were pretty good outside of, again, just some key mental errors.”
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