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Report Cards: Toronto Maple Leafs lose the goaltending battle again, fall to sixth loss in seven games – Maple Leafs Hot Stove

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Sometimes you just need a ****ing save.

Since hiring Daryl Sutter, the Calgary Flames have been a dominant team at 5v5. The Toronto Maple Leafs significantly outplayed them at even strength tonight — and lost 4-3.

After riding some sky-high shooting percentage and save percentage luck to start the season, the PDO reckoning appears to be in full swing. Frederik Andersen struggled again between the pipes, which we’ll break down in more detail towards the end.

Just keep in mind this Leafs team has actually been playing good hockey lately despite some shoddy goaltending.

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*Angry mob begins to light their pitchforks*

I better get out of here before I get hurt. Let’s dive into some player grades!

5 Stars

Game Puck: Mitch Marner (RW, #16) — His wrist shot looks much more dangerous this season. I’m not sure if it’s because he’s getting more power on it or if there’s a deceptive aspect to the release that he’s been working on, but one thing is for sure: Marner has been beating NHL goaltenders with it consistently this season.

That’s his 12th goal of the year, which would put him on pace for 32 goals across an 82-game season.

Marner was also making some great passes as per usual, finding Auston Matthews in tight for a chance that rang off the goal post later in the third period.

What impresses me most about Marner is that he’s able to generate all that offense while being defensively responsible. The Leafs encourage their defensemen to roam around in the offensive zone, which means you need your third forward to dart back as fast as they can to prevent odd-man rushes.

Marner has arguably been the best in the team in that regard this season.

This is just one example, but it’s a good one. Even Johnny Gaudreau can’t pull away from Marner when he reaches top speed.

4 Stars

Alex Galchenyuk (LW, #12) — How many of us expected Alex Galchenyuk to be a puck-hound in his first game as a Leaf? Right from his first shift, you could tell he was giving a high-level effort on every forecheck.

It’s a big part of the reason his line was able to force pucks loose below the goal line. I’d expect we’ll see some more flashes of skill from Galchenyuk moving forward, considering he’s averaged 47 points per 82 games throughout his NHL career.

Commitment to play without the puck has always been the concern with him, so it’s a great sign that he excelled in that department tonight.

Wayne Simmonds (LW, #24) — Another first! This was Wayne Simmonds’ first game since February 6th and he didn’t look out of place. He was finishing his checks, driving hard to the net, and surprisingly, making some great plays in transition.

My biggest concern with Simmonds at 5v5 is that plays tend to die on his stick in the neutral zone. The opposite was true in this game. He actually helped create Jason Spezza’s goal with a quick little pass to gain the zone.

Jason Spezza (LW, #19) — Since we’re already talking about that goal, here’s what it looked like.

That’s a nice little play by Simmonds to start the passing sequence. Spezza follows it up with an east-west pass, a lucky bounce if we’re being honest, and then a big shot that beats Markstrom.

The fourth line looked good tonight, thanks in large part to Spezza and Simmonds’ strong play.

TJ Brodie (RD, #78) — If you want to beat a Darryl Sutter-coached team, it starts on the breakout. Calgary’s forecheck has been relentless since the coaching change, but Brodie was able to “solve” it on multiple occasions by threading a little slip pass through the middle of the ice in the defensive zone.

Sometimes it’s the simple plays that make a big difference.

The Muzzin-Holl Pair — Anytime you outshoot and out-chance the opposition by double digits at 5v5, you know you’re doing something right. The Leafs generated 14 more chances than Calgary when Jake Muzzin was on the ice, thanks in large part to smart pinches in the offensive zone and closeouts in the neutral zone.

Justin Holl had himself a game. Two fights, a few big hits, strong transition defense, and a Grade-A scoring chance. I’m still not sure what Matthew Tkachuk was doing when he circled around center ice after challenging Holl to a fight, but honestly, I think we’d all sleep a lot better if we stopped worrying so much about his antics.

3 Stars

Auston Matthews (C, #34) — It’s been weird evaluating this version of Auston Matthews from night to night. He doesn’t look like himself in that his wrist injury is preventing him from getting the power on his shot that we’re used to seeing, but he’s still been able to get himself into some really good shooting positions.

He finished the game with 10 shot attempts, five of which came from the slot. If not for an incredible save from Jacob Markstrom, this would have been the game-tying goal.

Some nights the Hockey Gods just aren’t with you.

Joe Thornton (LW, #97) — I was really wondering if he’d finish the game with zero shot attempts in classic Jumbo Joe fashion, but he did fire one puck towards the net in the third period.

Despite providing almost no value as a shot threat, Thornton was able to complete a few cross-ice passes in the offensive zone. He was looking for Matthews on most of those, as he should be.

William Nylander (LW, #88) — This was a weird one for me because I genuinely thought Nylander looked dynamic off the rush. He almost snuck a shot under Markstrom’s skate on one of his rush chances.

On the cycle, though, I’d like to see more from Nylander. Maybe it’s a bit of acclimatizing to his new linemate, but the “spacing” in the offensive zone for the Tavares-Nylander line seemed a little bit off to me.

Ilya Mikheyev (LW, #65) — Another night, another Ilya Mikheyev PK rush that leads to a 1% chance of beating an NHL goaltender. It’s legitimately impressive how consistently he’s been able to strip pucks and create offense the other way while shorthanded, but he needs to find a better finishing move when he attacks the net.

At 5v5, he was disruptive in his puck pursuit (as usual), although he wasn’t able to create much offensively (as usual).

Zach Bogosian (RD, #22) — There were a few times Bogosian, smartly, decided to gap up in the neutral zone and kill the play early. It’s not always easy for defensemen like Bogosian to make aggressive plays like that given his footspeed, but he made some calculated risks in transition that benefited his team greatly.

2 Stars

Morgan Rielly (LD, #44) — Sometimes the iron is your best friend. Rielly’s most memorable play of the game was a tape-to-tape turnover in the middle of the defensive zone, leading to a backdoor pass that beat Andersen but not the post.

Rielly did a good job of holding the line in the offensive zone and starting the breakout in the defensive zone, and a blocked shot of his led to a primary assist on the Jason Spezza goal. Unfortunately, he whiffed on his best scoring chance of the evening. Even more unfortunately, it was a last-minute one-timer with the goalie pulled.

Alex Kerfoot (C, #15) — Yes, he scored a goal, but it was a lucky wobbler on a 1v3 rush. Kerfoot provided value on the penalty kill with some good stickwork, although his 5v5 impact still leaves a lot to be desired. Frankly, I’d be surprised if he’s still on the team a month from now.

Zach Hyman (RW, #11) — He was doing his usual work along the boards, getting body position on the opposing defender so he could win loose pucks back for his team. When he was forced to make a play in open ice, though, Hyman struggled tonight.

He’s done a much better job transporting the puck this season, especially in that third-line role where he’s forced to “drive” the line. We didn’t see as much of that in this game.

Pierre Engvall (C, #47) — There are times he’ll make a play that looks like it shouldn’t be possible. Sometimes it’s getting his stick on a puck that should be out of his reach. Sometimes it’s creating a transition opportunity when things looked pretty clogged up.

My theory is it’s his unusual combination of speed and length that catches opponents off guard. Aside from those few moments, this was a pretty quiet night for Engvall.

Coaching Staff — It’s not Sheldon Keefe or Dave Hakstol’s fault that shots are beating Andersen from the blueline. However, it is the coaching staff’s job to make life easier on his goaltender.

Small sample size warning obviously, but this strikes me as something structural that can be fixed. If your penalty killers aren’t getting in the shooting lanes, it’s going to increase the chance of those long-distance floaters finding their way through traffic.

John Tavares (C, #91) — We won’t be adding this one to Tavares’ highlight reel.

At least he picked up the secondary assist, right?

Tavares was able to help make up for this blunder, generating five chances from the slot, not to mention a no-look pass to Matthews for a one-timer that Markstrom absolutely robbed.

If we’re going to evaluate him as a captain, though, we need to acknowledge the 200-foot penalty he took with 17 seconds left in the 2nd period. There’s a time and place for everything. That wasn’t it.

1 Star

Travis Dermott (LD, #23) — Some of it was bad luck, but when you’re the one standing in the slot and the puck zips by you for a goal against, it’s hard to not knock the defender for it. This happened twice to Dermott, who had a puck bounce off his glove on the first goal. He jumped out of the way on the second one, which was an interesting strategy, to say the least.

Frederik Andersen (G, #31) — Oh boy.

In the first period, Andersen allowed three goals despite Calgary only generating 0.26 expected goals (that’s really low). A bad bounce and a backdoor pass can do that to you sometimes, but I’d love to hear a good explanation for this one finding the back of the net.

You need a save there.

The fourth goal against deflected off of Muzzin’s butt, so it’s hard to blame Andersen too much on that one. The bigger problem is that the Leafs have had the second-best goaltender in their last few Andersen starts. Even tonight, Markstrom wasn’t spectacular, but he was better.

Jack Campbell is going to get the start on the second half of the back-to-back. Anything short of an abject disaster and I’d say he keeps the net moving forward.


Heat Map

Here’s a quick look at where each team’s shots were coming from at even strength, courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.

As you might’ve guessed, the Leafs controlled the run of play at 5v5 tonight. They generated 60 percent of the shots and 73 percent of the scoring chances.


Game Score

Game score is a metric developed by The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn to measure single-game performance. You can read more about it here.


Tweets of the Night

After the first period, I’d argue both goalies played better than most of us remembered. Then again, both Markstrom and Andersen gave up floaters.

On nights like these, I really wish I could do Raptors Report Cards instead.

Have analytics gone too far?

This is an interesting theory. When Andersen faced a high volume of shots, his save percentage was great. Now that he’s facing a lower volume of shots, his save percentage is poor. Coincidence?

The Leafs have actually been dominating play at 5v5 lately. They just need a save.


Final Grade: .897 (Andersen’s Sv% in 2021)

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Allen on trade to Devils from Habs: 'Sometimes you've got to be a little bit selfish' – Yahoo Canada Sports

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Jake Allen loved being a member of the Montreal Canadiens.

The hockey-mad market, the crackling Bell Centre on a Saturday night, the Original Six franchise’s iconic logo.

The 33-year-old goaltender is also realistic.

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With the Canadiens still in full rebuild mode — and two young netminders in Sam Montembeault and Cayden Primeau ready for more playing time — Allen could see the writing on the wall.

Desperate for help in their own crease, the New Jersey Devils asked Montreal about the veteran’s availability. But the team, general manager Tom Fitzgerald told reporters earlier this month, was initially on Allen’s no-trade list.

There wasn’t anything the Fredericton product disliked about the organization or city. The Devils simply appeared to have their crease set for years to come.

But when the club that finished with 112 points and made the second round of the playoffs in 2022-23 was badly hampered by poor play from Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws and Akira Schmid — each netminder owned save percentages below .900 — the Devils circled back.

And Allen had changed his tune.

“Loved my time as a Hab,” he said of pulling on Montreal’s red, white and blue threads. “I always will cherish that. Put on probably the most special jersey in hockey, in my books. But you realize in your career, it doesn’t last forever.

“You’ve got to make decisions sometimes.”

Allen, who is signed through next season, eventually agreed to a deal that sent him to New Jersey ahead of the NHL’s March 8 trade deadline for a conditional third-round pick at the 2025 draft.

Apart from playing meaningful hockey on a team trying to claw its way back into the Eastern Conference playoff race, the swap gave him more runway to get his family settled in a new city instead of waiting to see what this summer’s crowded goalie market might bring.

“Sometimes you’ve got to be a little bit selfish,” said Allen, a Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues in 2019. “Look yourself in the mirror and wonder what’s best for you and your family.”

He’s been really good for his new team.

Allen was lights out in Tuesday’s first period against the Toronto Maple Leafs, making an eye-popping 25 saves in what would turn into New Jersey’s 6-3 victory.

So far he’s 4-2-0 with a .925 save percentage and a 2.51 goals against average in six starts for the Devils, who sit five points back of the East’s second wild-card spot.

“A real pro,” said interim head coach Travis Green.

Allen is a combined 10-14-3 in 2023-24 with a .900 save percentage and a 3.39 GAA. Across his 11 seasons with St. Louis, Montreal and now New Jersey, he’s 193-164-41 with a .908 save percentage and 2.75 GAA.

“Makes the saves we need to get some momentum back,” Devils captain Nico Hischier said. “If you have a solid goalie in the net, that makes your work easier.”

Allen is also 11-12 with a .924 and a 2.06 GAA all-time in the playoffs — a good sign for his new club should New Jersey manage to make the cut.

For now, though, he’s just enjoying being back in a post-season race.

“I thought this was a good opportunity to come in the rest of this year, play some games,” Allen said.

“It’s been a good start.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2024.

___

Follow @JClipperton_CP on X.

Joshua Clipperton, The Canadian Press

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Matthews game-time decision for Maple Leafs against Capitals with illness – NHL.com

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TORONTOAuston Matthews will be a game-time decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Washington Capitals at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, MNMT) because of an illness.

“It’s going to be on how he feels throughout the day,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said.

The forward did not participate in Toronto’s morning skate. Max Domi took his place as the center on a line between Tyler Bertuzzi and Mitch Marner, a right wing recovering from a high-ankle sprain sustained March 7 and will be out the next two games.

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Matthews leads the NHL with 59 goals, one from becoming the ninth player in NHL history with at least two 60-goal seasons. He scored 60 in 73 games in 2021-22, when he won the Rocket Richard Trophy, Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. He had one goal and nine shots in 23:44 of a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, which extended his point streak to five games (four goals, seven assists).

He missed one game this season with illness, a 7-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.

“Of course, it’s an adjustment when your best player is out of the lineup,” Domi said, “when anybody is out of the lineup, but I think we’ve done a great job all year of guys stepping up when they have to, and we just have to continue to do that.”

Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury.

“He just remains day to day,” Keefe said. “We’re hopeful he’s going to bounce back here. The one thing that is good is once he gets through this day or two here, it’s not going to be a lingering situation. It’s not going to be an injury that’s ongoing. Once he’s past it, he’s past it so we just need to give him some time.”

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Canucks place goalie Thatcher Demko on long-term injured list

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The Vancouver Canucks have placed all-star goalie Thatcher Demko on the long-term injured reserve list retroactively.

“It’s just cap related,” coach Rick Tocchet said after practice Wednesday. “We get some cap relief, that’s all it is.”

The 28-year-old netminder has been considered week to week since being sidelined with a lower-body injury midway through Vancouver’s 5-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets on March 9.

That injury designation hasn’t changed, Tocchet said.

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Demko boasts a 34-18-2 record this season, with a .917 save percentage, a 2.47 goals-against average and five shutouts.

Casey DeSmith has taken over the starting job for Vancouver, going 3-2-1 since Demko’s injury. He has a .899 save percentage on the season with a 2.73 goals-against average and one shutout.

The earliest Demko could be back in the Canucks’ lineup is April 6 against the Kings in Los Angeles.

He’s expected to be a key piece as Vancouver (45-19-8) prepares for its first playoff appearance since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 campaign.

Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin also announced Wednesday that the club has called up forward Arshdeep Bains from the Abbotsford Canucks of the American Hockey League.

“I’d like to see where [Bains is] at,” Tocchet said, noting he isn’t sure whether the 23-year-old winger will slot into the lineup when the Canucks host the Dallas Stars on Thursday.

WATCH | Bains makes NHL debut

 

Surrey, B.C.’s Arshdeep Bains makes Canucks debut

1 month ago

Duration 2:20

Arshdeep Bains from Surrey, B.C., has made his NHL debut with the Vancouver Canucks Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. As CBC’s Joel Ballard reports, it’s been a hard-fought journey for the hometown kid to the big leagues.

Bains played five games for the NHL team in February before being sent back to Abbotsford.

“He went down, he’s done a couple of things that we like, and he’s got some speed,” Tocchet said.

Vancouver may get another forward back in the lineup Thursday.

Dakota Joshua practised in a full-contact jersey on Wednesday for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in Vancouver’s 4-2 win over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Feb. 13.

The physical winger, who’s set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, has a career-high 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) this season.

Sitting out injured “hasn’t been fun,” Joshua said.

“It feels like forever,” he said. “But at this point, that’s behind me and I’m moving forward.”

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