The Leafs generated 57 shots on goal. The Blackhawks generated 34. Toronto lost the game 5-4.
That tells most of the story in that Robin Lehner outplayed Michael Hutchinson — which probably doesn’t surprise anyone — but score effects did play a huge role in this game. Chicago got out to a 4-1 lead after the first period despite Toronto controlling the run of play.
Overall, this was a strong comeback performance from the Leafs despite their goaltender not getting them a save to start off the night, although you’d like to see more from the team’s depth.
As you’ll see from the grades, this really was a two-man show.
William Nylander (RW, No. 88) — It was recently announced that Mitch Marner is going to miss at least four weeks with an ankle injury. This is consistent with everything I’ve been told by people much smarter than me in the medical field.
Nylander’s been taking hold of that opportunity in these past two games. He’s been dominant at even strength, with that top line living in the offensive zone. He’s making creative plays in transition and nifty passes on offense, and most importantly, he looks engaged without the puck. The play he made before his second goal of the night is everything fans have wanted to see from him.
When Nylander is playing like this, he’s one of the best hockey players in the world. If he can continue to play with this kind of effort every night, I have a feeling he’s going to help change some minds on the value of his contract.
Auston Matthews (C, No. 34) — The game ball had to go to one of them tonight. I went with Nylander because of the two goals, but Matthews was just as dominant. He was stripping pucks in all three zones, generating tons of shots and carrying more of the load in transition. If I’ve had one complaint about Matthews’ offensive game over the past few years, it’s how deferential he’s been in transition, often relying on Nylander to carry the puck up the ice. This season, he’s done a much better job of putting that on himself and dictating more of the play offensively.
If he can keep up the defensive effort and continue to move the puck like this, that Matthews-Nylander line is going to dominate — like they did Sunday.
Andreas Johnsson (LW, No. 18) — I thought his linemates were more responsible for the line’s dominant performance, but Johnsson put in some work along the walls. I was worried I’d have to write about him whiffing on all the quality chances he was given in the slot, but he was able to bury one late in the game off of a quick pass from John Tavares on the power play.
John Tavares (C, No. 91) — This was a slow start for Tavares. I didn’t even notice him until he connected on that baseball swing in the second period, which served as a nice reminder of his ridiculous hand-eye coordination. From that point on, he was making some craftier plays up the ice and creating things offensively. He also picked up a couple of points on the power play — which is why I’m bumping him up to four stars — but I’d like to see him impact the game a bit better at five-on-five, especially to start the game.
The Dermott-Holl Pairing — This was a quiet but effective game from the pairing. They didn’t make any dynamic plays up the ice, but they were taking away space in the neutral zone, forcing dump-ins and making quick decisions with the puck under pressure. Those types of plays typically get things moving in the right direction, which is why I’m such a fan of the way Dermott and Holl play the game.
Tyson Barrie (RD, No. 94) — I wanted to get mad at Barrie for not converting on his Grade-A chance after jumping up in the play, but then I realized: Tyson Barrie jumped up in the play! Those are the kind of aggressive offensive plays we’ve been wanting to see from him this season. He obviously isn’t very good without the puck — he gave up way too many passes that went right through him in the defensive zone — but when he jumps up in the play, he can help make up for it with his talent. I still want to see more of it, but I have a feeling the coaching staff wants him to take fewer risks in his game, which I would argue is a mistake for an offensive talent like Barrie.
The Energizer Bunnies — I never like repeating the same thing in these report cards, so I’m going to group Trevor Moore, Ilya Mikheyev and Dmytro Timashov in this section. The latter isn’t quite as strong defensively, but I love how much hustle all three played with in this game. They finish every check in the offensive zone, hustle to take away space on the backcheck and actually have some underrated skill to make plays up the ice. It still drives me crazy when Mikheyev lets passes go through his legs in the offensive zone — it reminds me of Zach Hyman’s rookie season — but you can live with it when you’re getting this kind of effort from a complementary winger on a consistent basis.
Jake Muzzin (LD, No. 8) — He had a pretty rough start, losing an edge at four-on-four and taking an undisciplined penalty. Frankly, I don’t think he should be playing four-on-four — I’d prefer to see teams rely on their speedier defenceman like Morgan Rielly, Tyson Barrie, Dermott and Holl — but that’s another conversation for another day. Muzzin did turn it around, though, with some stellar defensive play. He’s been the best penalty killer on the team by far among blueliners, mainly thanks to his tight gap in the neutral zone and good stick defensively for taking away passing lanes.
There’s very little I enjoy more than a huge, clean hit like this. We don’t see them much anymore in the modern NHL, and when we do it tends to result in a fight, which I think is ridiculous, but good on Muzzin for standing up for himself. These are the kind of plays a lot of Leafs fans want to see more of from this team, and frankly, I can’t blame them.
⭐⭐
Alexander Kerfoot (C, No. 15) — He had a few shifty moments in this game, and he even skated end to end late in the third period to create a quality scoring chance. But he’s still hesitating in the middle of the ice when he has the puck. I love that he has the confidence to hold on to the puck and look for a backdoor pass — it’s a big part of the reason he’s such a great passer and puck-mover. The issue is that sometimes you need to shoot when you’re wide open in the slot, and Kerfoot doesn’t want to. I’d love to see him play a bit more selfishly. He actually has a surprisingly decent shot.
Frederik Gauthier (RW, No. 33) — This was an uneventful game for Gauthier. Shocker, I know. With that being said, he did have an excellent backcheck to prevent a two-on-one after Cody Ceci blew his coverage in the neutral zone. That’s why Gauthier’s in the lineup, and the inner coach in me understands that. With that being said, it’s still a tad frustrating to watch him offensively with the puck in open space — he can’t really do much with it.
Jason Spezza (RW, No. 19) — I’ve actually liked Spezza with the puck on his stick this season. He’s making crafty passes in the offensive zone despite the fact he can barely skate anymore. I still have no idea what he was doing defensively on Toronto’s third goal against, which is why Mike Babcock tends to get frustrated with Spezza. I get it, but I’d also still like to see Spezza put in more situations that benefit his offensive skill set. He still has some great hands and vision, which helps explain why the team has generated significantly more offense with him on the ice than a player like Nick Shore.
Coaching Staff — Let’s look at both sides of the argument here. On the one hand, it isn’t Babcock’s fault Hutchinson gave up four goals in the first period. On the other hand, the fact that the Leafs look way better when they play high-event hockey is indicative of the bigger problem with the team’s conservative style. Rielly and Barrie looked terrible until the team fell behind by three goals, which gave them the freedom to be more aggressive in transition, jump up in the rush and pinch offensively. Those two should be playing like that all the time. They’re never going to be great defensively at this point, so you might as well take advantage of the incredible things they can do offensively.
I also didn’t love Matthews and Nylander setting up on their strong sides off of faceoff wins on the power play — thought they looked much better with the one-time option — but they scored a nice goal later in the game from that formation, so maybe it isn’t a huge deal. Personally, I’d love to see Nylander let a few one-timers go from the left circle. Unlike Marner, he can actually rip it from there. I’d also like to see Barrie on the top power-play unit — Rielly’s weak-point shots aren’t scaring anyone — but again, I doubt we see any change there. Babcock’s stubbornness is extremely frustrating when it comes to stuff like this.
Michael Hutchinson (G, No. 30) — I completely hear the argument for Hutchinson playing well after giving up four goals. He did. The issue is that you can’t give up four goals in the first period; teams typically don’t come back from that. The Leafs were giving up far too many passes through the middle of the ice in this game, which doesn’t help your goaltender, but it doesn’t excuse Hutchinson’s poor rebound control, which has been a consistent problem all season.
I’m rooting for him to succeed, but unfortunately, I just don’t think he’s a quality NHL backup. It’s hard to find that for the league-minimum salary, but Toronto’s going to need to do a better job of it in the future. If Frederik Andersen goes down for any significant amount of time, the Leafs’ chances of making the playoffs fall off a cliff. That’s a problem.
⭐
Kasperi Kapanen (RW, No. 24) — I didn’t notice Kapanen much in this game, which has been rare for him lately. I’m not sure if this is a lack-of-chemistry thing playing alongside Tavares or just a one-off, but it’s definitely something to keep an eye on. He’s been playing excellent hockey since being switched back to his right wing, but maybe his skill set just doesn’t work in the top six? The next month should help get us a definitive answer.
Nick Shore (C, No. 26) — We’re reaching the point where I never notice Shore. The Leafs will get slightly out-chanced with him on the ice, but nothing significant enough for the coaching staff to see it as a problem. Personally, I’d like to see a fourth line outplay its matchups on a more consistent basis.
Morgan Rielly (LD, No. 44) — He looked excellent offensively after the team fell behind 4-1, but his struggles defensively are a big part of the reason it happened. He willingly gives up way too much space defensively, which allows opposing forwards to get shots off that they shouldn’t, gain the zone when they should be forced into a dump-in, or get a pass through the middle of the ice when the play should’ve been killed five seconds earlier.
I love his offensive talent, especially when it’s unleashed in a high-event game like this, but Toronto isn’t always going to be playing from behind. Some of these defensive concerns are more noticeable now because his partner isn’t covering up for him — I think we might’ve underrated Ron Hainsey’s ability to do that over the past two seasons — but some of this still falls solely on Rielly. His one-on-one defence has been terrible this season. That isn’t his partner’s fault.
Cody Ceci (RD, No. 83) — This was a hard game to watch for Ceci fans. The poor guy keeps backing off in transition, which opens up tons of space through the middle of the ice for passes. I counted at least four times he allowed a pass through the middle of the slot, which just can’t happen as an NHL defender. As a side note: Are we sure he’s a good penalty killer? I don’t think he is; he doesn’t defend the entry well, isn’t taking away space when players come near him and is gifting opponents passes through the seam. That doesn’t sound like an ideal penalty killer to me.
The hottest topic heading into tonight’s game wasn’t about the Leafs. It wasn’t even a Jonathan Toews quote about what it takes to win multiple Stanley Cups — that would’ve been my best bet.
The topic du jour has been Don Cherry’s offensive comments on Saturday night’s episode of Coach’s Corner.
Whether or not the comments offended you frankly doesn’t matter; it’s clear that a large portion of hockey fans felt personally attacked. Cherry found a way to turn a positive topic — supporting fallen soldiers by buying a poppy — into a rant about immigrant families coming to Canada and not appreciating “our way of life.”
Now, I loved watching Coach’s Corner growing up. Cherry felt like my uncle who helped introduce me to the game, but he’s alienating a huge portion of the fan base with rhetoric like this. I’m glad Ron MacLean issued a heartfelt apology over the incident, but that isn’t enough. Cherry needs to be held responsible for his actions.
I’ll gladly “stick to sports” when we stop playing the national anthem before games, honouring the military at centre ice and spending our tax dollars on public arenas. Until then, sports and politics are going to be intertwined. When there’s a story this big, people are going to talk about it. In fact, this discussion we’re having is far more important than anything that happened on the ice Sunday night between the Leafs and Blackhawks — and I say that as someone who’s writing about hockey for a living.
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