The Toronto Maple Leafs keep finding new ways to make life harder on themselves, and Sunday night brought another flat ending at Scotiabank Arena. A 4-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils dropped Toronto to 0-3 in its six-game homestand and 1-5 in its last six overall, with the same issues showing up again: shaky special teams, uneven five-on-five play, and a lineup being stretched thin by injuries.
For a while, it looked like Toronto might settle into the game. The first period was even on the shot clock at 7-7, and the Leafs held their own early before the Devils started to pull away.
From there, the familiar pattern took over. The Leafs fell behind again, never found a way to build momentum, and were shut out for the first time this season.
“Kind of the same story,” Auston Matthews said after the loss. “I thought we had a good first period.
It’s just been tough for us to string together momentum and consistency through 60 minutes of play. That’s really been our Achilles heel all season long.”
That lack of consistency has been a theme through this recent slide. Toronto has now scored first only once in its last six games, in a 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
In the five losses, the Leafs were either already down multiple goals before they scored or found themselves trailing at some point, including in Seattle. On Sunday, they never got on the board at all.
“Stolz (Stolarz) was really good. He gave us a chance.
In the end, I think it’s just we’re banged up. Guys got to look in the mirror and just ask a little bit more of themselves.”
That came after another night where Toronto’s penalty kill couldn’t hold. Nico Hischier’s power-play goal in the third period extended the Leafs’ run of allowing a goal while shorthanded to seven straight games.
On Oct. 23, Toronto was sitting at 97.4% on the penalty kill, best in the NHL.
Seven games later, that number has dropped to 85.9%, which is still respectable but nowhere near the airtight unit they were flashing earlier.
The Devils went 1-for-3 with the man advantage, but the one that mattered came at the worst possible time. Toronto entered the third period down 2-0 and had a chance to make things interesting when John Tavares missed a wide-open net early in the frame. Instead, at 9:49, Hischier scored on an Oliver Ekman-Larsson tripping penalty and effectively put the game away.
The bigger issue is that Toronto keeps putting itself in those spots. The Maple Leafs have taken 83 penalties, sixth-most in the NHL, and have racked up 189 penalty minutes, 12th-most in the league.
The kill needs to be better, but the discipline has to improve too. In the first 10 minutes of the third period, with the Leafs still within reach, they took two minor penalties and spent four minutes shorthanded.
That’s the kind of stretch that kills any comeback before it starts.
The injury situation only made the night tougher. Kirill Marchenko and Nick Blankenburg were already out, and on Sunday Morgan Rielly and Jack Roslovic were also unavailable. Chris Tanev sat out as well, with Jim Hiller calling it a “planned maintenance” day.
“That’s where we’re trying to manage him a little bit,” Hiller said before the game. “The guy wants to play every single game. But I think that will probably be part of the plan.”
With Rielly and Tanev out, Dakota Mermis and Cole McWard filled out the third defensive pair and both logged more than 15 minutes. The lack of depth on the blue line was obvious, and the offense didn’t get much help from the way the lines were shuffled during the game either. Hiller kept moving pieces around, but some of the combinations didn’t make much sense, especially Zack MacEwen ending up on the first line.
There’s no question the Leafs are short-handed. But Sunday night also showed how thin the margin is when the top six isn’t carrying the load and the lineup keeps changing around it.
In Other News...
Maple Leafs Defensive Depth Search Just Ran Into A Rival Wrinkle
The Maple Leafs are still sorting through a thinning blue line, and the need for another defense option has only grown as injuries pile up. Torontos depth situation has become more urgent with Ben Danford sidelined, leaving the club watching the waiver wire for any help it can find.
One name that has surfaced is Cameron Crotty, who was placed on waivers by Minnesota after being claimed from Ottawa. Toronto could look to make a move, but the path is not clean, since the waiver order and Ottawas position in the process could complicate things before the Leafs even get a chance to act. [Read more 🡒]
Auston Matthews Sends Frustrated Message As Leafs Problems Keep Growing
The Maple Leafs are still searching for answers after another uneven night, this one a 4-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils that stretched their skid to three games and left them trying to steady a season that has already veered off course. Connor Hellebuyck was perfect for New Jersey, turning aside all 23 shots he faced, while Torontos issues with consistency and special teams again sat front and center as the club tried to explain why the same problems keep resurfacing.
Auston Matthews did not hide his frustration afterward, and his comments reflected a team that knows the excuses are starting to run thin. With injuries part of the backdrop, the captain said the current group has to take more responsibility for the results, a message that lands with extra weight when the losses keep piling up and the margin for patience keeps shrinking. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Just Lost A Young Blue-Line Option At The Worst Time
The Maple Leafs were already looking for help on the blue line, and Ben Danford had been one of the young internal options with a chance to work his way into the conversation. Instead, the Toronto Marlies defenseman is dealing with a broken wrist and is expected to be out week-to-week, a tough break for a player trying to stay on the radar at exactly the right moment.
For Toronto, the timing makes the injury sting even more. With the NHL club already managing injuries on defense, Danfords setback removes a possible call-up candidate from the mix and leaves the organization weighing other ways to patch together its blue-line depth while he recovers. [Read more 🡒]