Jim Hiller didn’t need to dress it up after the Leafs’ 4-2 win in Vancouver. The result was there, but the message was plain: this team still hasn’t put together a full night. Through 16 games, the head coach says the same thing keeps showing up.
“No, I don’t think so. I think we’ve been inconsistent - too inconsistent.”
That was Hiller’s blunt read on whether the Leafs are building a steady identity yet. He pointed to the same pattern again after this one: strong stretches, then lapses where the pushback disappears.
“If there’s one thing that I would point to, it’s that we’ve had some great moments in games, and we’ve had some times where we just haven’t had a good pushback. That has to be addressed.”
And when asked if that was on display again against the Canucks, he didn’t dance around it.
“Yeah, exactly. It was.”
The game itself followed that shape. Hiller said the first period was “just okay,” the second was “really good,” and the third settled back into “just okay.” The middle frame was where the Leafs really took control, and Hiller said the formula was simple: work the forecheck, make contact, and support it quickly.
“We forechecked, and we made contact on their D, and then we were quick to support it. I think when we do that, we do that well.”
He said that approach gave the Leafs their best second period of the season in that area.
“There are different times that we just want to rush and try to score off the rush. It’s really difficult to do in the league consistently.
If you forecheck, you give yourself a chance. I thought we did that as well as we’ve done it all year in the second.”
One of the more interesting wrinkles came from the line juggling. Hiller said he liked what he saw from the Joshua-Sissons-McKenna combination, especially with Gavin McKenna getting more time to work with the puck in the offensive zone.
“There were some different things. I actually thought that Sissons, Joshua, and McKenna were really effective.
It’s probably the most Gavin’s had the puck in the O-zone in a game, I would think, with the puck on his stick. He was dangerous, so I really liked the looks of that.”
He added that penalties forced some of the mixing and matching, but once that group settled in, it stayed together.
“There are penalties, so you get things mixed up just a little bit coming out of different penalties. Once we got that going, it looked like it worked pretty well, so we stuck with it.”
Hiller also had positive things to say about Dakota Joshua and Chris Tanev, both back in the lineup.
“I thought both were good. Both really solid. A little rust on both of them, but I would say both of them were positive contributors.”
Another key moment came before the five-on-three, when Hiller used a timeout to reset his group.
“They’d been out for a minute already, so I wanted to make sure they were fresh enough. And it gives Alfie a chance to just walk through it with them and remind them what he wanted them to do.”
Anthony Stolarz’s 5-1-0 start was part of the story too, but Hiller made clear he sees the wins as a team effort, not a one-man job.
“You’ve got to win games. Whoever wins them, you have to win the games.
There are a lot of them; they come at you fast. You need everybody.
It’s goaltenders. You need eight D.
You need 14 or 15 forwards.
“It really takes everybody to win. The goaltender himself doesn’t do it, but we’re happy with the start, for sure.”
The road trip is over now, and Hiller sounded ready for the change of pace. After a packed opening stretch, he said getting home and getting back on the practice ice should help.
“We’ve had a tough start to the season. It’s been busy.
You guys have traveled with us, so you know what that’s felt like. It’ll be good to get home and catch our breath.
“We were able to practice yesterday for the first time in I don’t know how long. We have some good practice time in November. I think it’s really important for our team right now.”
As for McKenna, Hiller said the young forward is still learning how to balance his high-end skill with the day-to-day demands of playing in the NHL.
“We don’t want him to be one or the other. He’s just got to learn what an NHL player does typically.
Those players with so much skill, in the end, get a little bit more rope. We all know that, but you still have to find your way as an NHL player.
“He’s tremendously skilled, but he’s finding his way as an NHL player. You learn when to manage it and when not to, and that’s what he’s going through right now.”
The team is trying to put him in positions where that skill can show, especially on the power play.
“We try to put him in good spots. He’s on the power play - the first power play. That’s a chance to really show your skill there.
“Then, different times late in the game, we try to protect the lead. He just doesn’t get as much.”
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