Game 31 - Boston 5, Leafs 2 - Leafs outchance Bruins, but suffer defeat

The Leafs have not had many games in which they have outchanced opponents this year, but they did on Sunday night, only to fall to the Bruins. The Bruins benefited from a couple of goals on shots from the blueline, which didn't count as chances, something that's been relatively rare against the Leafs this season.

Toronto narrowly won the opening period in chances, and took the lead through Peter Holland. In the second, the Leafs again won the battle of chances, but two powerplay goals, and both of the goals that weren't chances, saw them surrender the lead to go down by two.

McClement scored early in the third to pull the lead back, but Toronto wasn't all that good in chasing the game, generating just two even strength chances after the goal. They did have a couple of late chances on the powerplay with the goalie pulled, but they were already down two at that point, after Iginla scored.

Toronto outchanced Boston in every period, a rarity for the Leafs this season. The advantage in each period was slight, and, as mentioned, the Leafs didn't do a great job of chasing the deficit, which is in strong contrast to how other teams have been chasing games in which the Leafs led.

A summary of the scoring chances:

Status	Overall		ES
Team	Toronto	Boston	Toronto	Boston
1	6	4	5	4
2	7	7	7	5
3	8	3	4	3
Total	21	14	16	12

Details below.


This was my list of scoring chances from the game. If you see any problems or omissions (here or anywhere else), please go ahead and leave a comment.

Club	St	P	Time	Note	Toronto						Boston
TOR	PP	1	15:26	Raymond from Gardiner	23	71	12	26	51	45	46	38	43	86	30	-
TOR	ES	1	14:10	McClement from rebound of Kulemin shot	11	21	41	15	36	45	34	51	25	44	47	30
BOS	ES	1	13:36	Smith wide from Bergeron	23	71	12	4	51	45	37	63	18	27	33	30
BOS	ES	1	11:09	Caron drives	24	12	21	4	51	45	11	38	20	44	86	30
BOS	ES	1	09:27	Smith wide from giveaway	43	81	21	15	26	45	37	63	18	27	33	30
TOR	ES	1	07:40	GOAL! Holland from loose puck	24	71	12	4	51	45	11	38	20	44	47	30
TOR	ES	1	07:23	Ashton drives	11	37	41	3	36	45	46	12	17	44	47	30
TOR	ES	1	07:15	McClement from rebound of Gunnarsson shot	11	37	41	3	36	45	46	12	17	27	33	30
BOS	ES	1	03:37	Caron from Campbell	24	37	41	15	26	45	11	38	20	43	44	30
TOR	ES	1	00:09	McClement wide from Kulemin	11	37	41	3	36	45	11	38	20	44	47	30
TOR	ES	2	19:46	Smith wide from loose puck	23	71	12	3	36	45	46	12	17	33	86	30
BOS	SH	2	14:57	Soderberg from loose puck	11	41	3	36	45	-	34	37	63	18	44	30
BOS	SH	2	14:46	GOAL! Soderberg from Smith	11	23	3	36	45	-	34	37	63	18	44	30
TOR	ES	2	07:12	Franson from Van Riemsdyk	43	81	21	4	51	45	11	38	20	33	86	30
BOS	ES	2	05:56	Krejci wide from Iginla	23	81	21	3	26	45	46	12	17	44	47	30
BOS	ES	2	04:47	Smith wide from Bergeron	43	81	21	4	51	45	37	63	18	33	44	30
BOS	ES	2	04:06	Bergeron from Marchand	43	81	21	4	51	45	37	63	18	33	44	30
TOR	ES	2	03:49	Kessel from Ranger	43	81	21	15	26	45	11	38	20	43	86	30
TOR	ES	2	03:48	Kessel from rebound	43	81	21	15	26	45	11	38	20	43	86	30
TOR	ES	2	03:20	Kadri deflects Ranger shot wide	43	81	21	15	26	45	11	38	20	33	47	30
TOR	ES	2	02:03	Van Riemsdyk wide from Kessel	43	81	21	3	36	45	51	12	17	43	44	30
TOR	ES	2	01:39	Clarkson deflects Phaneuf shot	23	71	12	3	36	45	51	12	17	43	44	30
BOS	ES	2	01:00	Iginla wide from Lucic	23	71	12	3	36	45	46	12	17	33	86	30
BOS	ES	2	00:10	Bergeron deflects Phaneuf shot	11	24	41	4	51	45	37	63	18	33	44	30
TOR	ES	3	19:24	McClement from Holland	11	24	41	4	51	45	34	37	18	33	44	30
TOR	ES	3	19:23	GOAL! McClement from rebound	11	24	41	4	51	45	34	37	18	33	44	30
BOS	ES	3	18:57	Bergeron deflects Seidenberg shot	11	24	41	4	51	45	37	63	18	44	47	30
TOR	PP	3	16:34	Kessel from Phaneuf	43	81	21	3	4	45	37	63	33	86	30	-
TOR	PP	3	12:24	Gardiner from Phaneuf	43	81	21	3	51	45	37	38	43	47	30	-
BOS	ES	3	06:08	Caron from Campbell	23	71	12	26	51	45	11	38	20	44	47	30
TOR	ES	3	05:01	Van Riemsdyk wide from loose puck	43	81	21	4	51	45	46	12	17	33	86	30
BOS	ES	3	04:00	GOAL! Iginla from Lucic	43	81	21	3	36	45	46	12	17	33	86	30
TOR	ES	3	03:42	Kadri wide from loose puck	43	81	21	15	26	45	11	38	20	43	44	30
TOR	PP	3	01:46	Van Riemsdyk from rebound of Clarkson shot	43	81	71	21	3	51	11	46	33	44	30	-
TOR	PP	3	00:40	Clarkson wide from Kessel	43	81	71	21	3	4	11	46	33	44	30	-

The Extra Skater game profile.

The Leafs took the game in terms of overall Corsi, 75-68, but narrowly lost 5-on-5, 56-57, and 5-on-5 close 32-36.

The scoring chance numbers for the Leaf players:

Player	F	A	D	TOI	ESF	ESA	ESD	EVTOI	PPF	PPA	PPD	PPTOI	SHF	SHA	SHD	SHTOI
Phaneuf	10	5	5	22:05	6	3	3	13:54	4	0	4	05:46	0	2	-2	02:25
Franson	7	6	1	21:26	5	6	-1	17:11	2	0	2	03:08	0	0	0	01:07
McClement	6	4	2	12:59	6	2	4	10:26	0	0	0	00:08	0	2	-2	02:25
Raymond	4	4	0	18:19	3	4	-1	14:49	1	0	1	02:10	0	0	0	01:20
Ranger	5	2	3	17:45	5	2	3	16:28	0	0	0	00:00	0	0	0	01:17
Van Riemsdyk	12	6	6	24:48	8	6	2	18:23	4	0	4	05:42	0	0	0	00:43
Smith	3	5	-2	17:08	2	4	-2	14:47	1	0	1	02:10	0	1	-1	00:11
Holland	3	4	-1	10:35	3	4	-1	10:35	0	0	0	00:00	0	0	0	00:00
Liles	5	4	1	17:17	4	4	0	14:58	1	0	1	02:14	0	0	0	00:05
D'Amigo	0	0	0	05:00	0	0	0	03:53	0	0	0	00:00	0	0	0	01:07
Gunnarsson	7	4	3	16:06	7	2	5	14:12	0	0	0	00:08	0	2	-2	01:46
Ashton	3	1	2	05:29	3	1	2	05:21	0	0	0	00:08	0	0	0	00:00
McLaren	0	0	0	03:44	0	0	0	03:44	0	0	0	00:00	0	0	0	00:00
Kulemin	6	4	2	12:29	6	3	3	10:58	0	0	0	00:08	0	1	-1	01:23
Kadri	11	4	7	23:23	7	4	3	17:41	4	0	4	05:42	0	0	0	00:00
Gardiner	8	7	1	25:21	5	7	-2	20:03	3	0	3	04:44	0	0	0	00:34
Clarkson	6	3	3	18:34	3	3	0	14:17	3	0	3	04:17	0	0	0	00:00
Kessel	11	5	6	24:36	7	5	2	18:56	4	0	4	05:35	0	0	0	00:05
Bernier	19	14	5	57:19	16	12	4	47:42	3	0	3	06:00	0	2	-2	03:37

A strong night for Nazem Kadri and the top line, with those three leading the team in generating chances. Jay McClement had the best differential of any of the Leaf forwards, with a season best +4. Nik Kulemin was also solid, at a +3. Trevor Smith was the worst of the forwards, at -2, while Mason Raymond and Peter Holland were the other negative forwards.

Dion Phaneuf, now facing suspension, was strong on the defensive end, as was Carl Gunnarsson, a team-high +5. Paul Ranger was also a positive, while the only negative players were Franson and Jake Gardiner.

The Bruins:

Player	F	A	D	TOI	ESF	ESA	ESD	EVTOI	PPF	PPA	PPD	PPTOI	SHF	SHA	SHD	SHTOI
Campbell	3	9	-6	14:54	3	7	-4	11:55	0	0	0	00:02	0	2	-2	02:57
Iginla	3	6	-3	16:20	3	6	-3	14:37	0	0	0	01:43	0	0	0	00:00
Lucic	3	6	-3	15:03	3	6	-3	13:25	0	0	0	01:38	0	0	0	00:00
Smith	8	2	6	14:35	6	2	4	12:27	2	0	2	02:08	0	0	0	00:00
Paille	3	7	-4	13:00	3	7	-4	11:20	0	0	0	00:02	0	0	0	01:38
Fraser	0	1	-1	08:04	0	1	-1	08:04	0	0	0	00:00	0	0	0	00:00
Hamilton	2	1	1	05:58	2	1	1	05:13	0	0	0	00:45	0	0	0	00:00
Chara	7	10	-3	26:55	7	7	0	19:13	0	0	0	01:49	0	3	-3	05:53
Soderberg	2	3	-1	10:56	0	3	-3	09:06	2	0	2	01:48	0	0	0	00:02
Bergeron	8	4	4	18:38	6	2	4	14:00	2	0	2	01:52	0	2	-2	02:46
Caron	3	9	-6	14:00	3	7	-4	11:34	0	0	0	00:02	0	2	-2	02:24
Bartkowski	1	7	-6	18:50	1	5	-4	16:45	0	0	0	00:00	0	2	-2	02:05
Seidenberg	10	11	-1	26:52	8	9	-1	21:10	2	0	2	01:16	0	2	-2	04:26
Krejci	3	7	-4	19:37	3	4	-1	14:18	0	0	0	01:27	0	3	-3	03:52
Krug	3	6	-3	17:46	3	5	-2	15:06	0	0	0	01:36	0	1	-1	01:04
Spooner	0	3	-3	08:53	0	3	-3	08:51	0	0	0	00:00	0	0	0	00:02
Marchand	8	1	7	17:27	6	0	6	13:11	2	0	2	01:57	0	1	-1	02:19
Miller	3	7	-4	22:12	3	5	-2	19:40	0	0	0	00:00	0	2	-2	02:32
Johnson	14	21	-7	60:00	12	16	-4	48:23	2	0	2	03:37	0	5	-5	08:00

Brad Marchand was excellent, not on for a single ES chance against, and the most effective Bruin. Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith were also strong in generating chances, while Dan Paille, Gregory Campbell and Matt Bartkowski were among the weaker of the Bruins.

Players with nice chance numbers:
Toronto - Carl Gunnarsson, Jay McClement, Dion Phaneuf
Boston - Brad Marchand, Reilly Smith, Patrice Bergeron

Players with poor chance numbers:
Toronto - Jake Gardiner, Trevor Smith, Cody Franson
Boston - Gregory Campbell, Dan Paille, Matt Bartkowski