Toronto's Western swing came to a disappointing end, as they were soundly beaten in Vancouver, with former coach/GM Pat Quinn among those in attendance, as Pavel Bure was honoured by the home team. This was the second straight Saturday night road game when Toronto got manhandled against the West, but while the score of this game was worse than the Chicago game, the scoring chances were more even.
In fact, through the first period, the two teams were level at even strength, despite Vancouver's shot advantage, and their goal. In the second period, the Leafs got into a lot of penalty trouble, including a long 3-on-5, and lost out in chances, but not that severely. The Toronto penalty kill was actually fairly solid, holding Vancouver to relatively few chances in more than 14 minutes of powerplay time.
Still, Toronto did nothing with their chances, failing to beat Luongo, while 2 second period goals extended Vancouver's lead. The score effects in the third were evident in the rate of chances, with just two total in the first half of the period. Vancouver led in chances, winning overall by 8. In four of the last five games, the Leafs have been outchanced by 7 or more, but they've managed to win two of those, thanks primarily to some very good goaltending.
Ultimately, the key story of the game will be the injury to Dave Bolland, who suffered a lacerated leg, requiring surgery that will likely leave him sidelined for a long while. Without Tyler Bozak, and with the Marlies struggling at centre, meaning there isn't a clear option to call up, things could get ugly down the middle for the next few weeks.
A summary of the scoring chances:
| Status |
Overall |
ES |
| Team |
Toronto |
Vancouver |
Toronto |
Vancouver |
| 1 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
5 |
| 2 |
4 |
7 |
2 |
5 |
| 3 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
5 |
| Total |
12 |
20 |
9 |
15 |
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Toronto completed a sweep of Alberta, with a 4-2 win in Calgary, in yet another game that saw the Leafs handily out shot, and behind in chances for much of it. However, the chance numbers, presented below, don't make it look nearly as bad as the shot and Corsi results do.
Despite being handily outshot, the two sides were relatively even in chances throughout the game. Toronto were level at even strength after one, but led by two, after Lupul opened the scoring and JVR scored a killer shorthanded marker in the last five seconds of the period.
Calgary made a strong push in the second, Stajan pulling one back late, and recording 6 chances and 20 shots. Toronto recovered in the third, playing excellent defense, allowing only two chances against. They did give up a goal to David Jones, but had re-established a two goal lead at that point, through Mason Raymond.Calgary didn't generate a chance after the Jones goal, which was their only chance in the last 18 minutes, a very strong performance to hold on for victory.
A summary of the scoring chances:
| Status |
Overall |
ES |
| Team |
Toronto |
Calgary |
Toronto |
Calgary |
| 1 |
6 |
8 |
5 |
5 |
| 2 |
3 |
7 |
3 |
6 |
| 3 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
| Total |
13 |
17 |
12 |
13 |
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In their first game with Edmonton, the Leafs were constantly pushed, coming from beind late in the third period to grab an OT victory. This time, there was no such drama, as Toronto opened the scoring in the second minute of the game, and were up 3-0 at the halfway point. In the last ten minutes, the only drama was whether James Reimer would hold onto his shutout, which he did.
Toronto weren't great in the opening frame, but a strong second, featuring two goals and a 7-4 edge in chances saw them pull ahead. They were broadly outchanced in the third period, but almost all of Edmonton's chances came after Kadri scored the 4th goal, meaning that the edge in puck possession and chances was in a large part due to score effects.
A summary of the scoring chances:
| Status |
Overall |
ES |
| Team |
Toronto |
Edmonton |
Toronto |
Edmonton |
| 1 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
5 |
| 2 |
7 |
4 |
7 |
4 |
| 3 |
2 |
10 |
2 |
7 |
| Total |
12 |
19 |
11 |
16 |
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Over the last few seasons, Toronto's strong performance against Pittsburgh has always stood out to me. Despite the Penguins' relatively consistent high placing in the standings, while the Leafs were not quite so successful, and the presence of two major stars in Crosby and Malkin, the two teams have typically played closely fought game, with little between them. The same rang true on Saturday night.
Through two periods, the Penguins were heavily on top of the game, outchancing Toronto 20-6 overall, and 11-2 at ES. However, the game was tied, as the two teams traded special teams goals in the first, and the Leafs managed to survive the siege in the second.
In the third, the Leafs got an early goal from Nazem Kadri to pull ahead, and then totally shut down a potent Penguins attack, allowing only a single Penguin chance (and that one coming without Crosby or Malkin on). Phil Kessel added a late powerplay goal for insurance to secure the win.
A summary of the scoring chances:
| Status |
Overall |
ES |
| Team |
Toronto |
Pittsburgh |
Toronto |
Pittsburgh |
| 1 |
4 |
9 |
0 |
3 |
| 2 |
2 |
11 |
2 |
8 |
| 3 |
7 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
| Total |
13 |
21 |
7 |
12 |
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After a strong game at home to Anaheim, Toronto got back into a bad patch of form in Columbus, losing in front of a pretty strong contingent in blue and white at Nationwide Arena. David Clarkson finally made his Leafs debut, but didn't have a substantial impact on the game.
After a decent start, the Leafs were dominated in the middle of the first period, giving up a powerplay goal against, as well as 7 even strength chances. They had a much stronger second period, getting a goal to tie the game right at the start from Kessel, and holding Columbus to three ES chances in the period, though they still lost the period.
The Leafs lost it in the third, though, giving up the most overall chances of any third period so far this year. The backbreaker came as Toronto pushed for an equalizer on the powerplay, Dubinsky going down and scoring a shorthanded goal on a 2-on-1. A couple of late goals extended Columbus' lead, after Dave Bolland first pulled Toronto close with a goal, then too a penalty to leave the Leafs down a man in the last 3 minutes.
A summary of the scoring chances:
| Status |
Overall |
ES |
| Team |
Toronto |
Columbus |
Toronto |
Columbus |
| 1 |
4 |
8 |
4 |
7 |
| 2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
3 |
| 3 |
7 |
10 |
3 |
6 |
| Total |
13 |
22 |
9 |
16 |
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You wouldn't have thought it after about 25 minutes or so, but this ended up being the most complete Leaf game of the last week or so, as they came back from down 2-0 to Anaheim to earn a 4-2 win. Three of the goals came from Phil Kessel, scoring his second Leaf hat-trick.
I thought I had gotten distracted when I went back to my charts for the first period, as I had just one chance in the whole frame, the Anaheim goal. A rewatch showed that I wasn't wrong; the first period had the fewest chances of any Leaf period so far in the season.
The second period was then evenly split, but the Leafs were ahead at even strength, as well as scoring three goals to take the lead. Cricitally, this included surviving a solid stretch of 5-on-3, just after tying the game. They lost the third period overall, but won it at even strength, despite score effects seeing Anaheim push the play looking for an equalizer.
The last time Toronto allowed less than 10 even strength chances in a game was at Nashville, also the last time that they managed to win the even strength chance battle.
A summary of the scoring chances:
| Status |
Overall |
ES |
| Team |
Toronto |
Anaheim |
Toronto |
Anaheim |
| 1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| 2 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
| 3 |
6 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
| Total |
11 |
15 |
10 |
8 |
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A familiar story to his post, as Toronto got badly beaten in Chicago. Getting outchanced for the third consecutive game, this time the Leafs weren't even enough in the game to benefit from some luck and weak goaltending, as in the Minnesota game, or to be felled by a weird game winner, as against Carolina. In fact, watching the game, it seems strange that the Leafs were as close as 3-1; Chicago did have a goal called back, but it felt as if they were much more secure than a two-goal margin.
The Leafs were on the back foot from the start, badly outchanced in the first, and generating only a single even strength chance. The second saw them get a goal, as well as generate a couple of chances, but they allowed even more, including three goals, with Mike Kostka's first NHL marker among them. The third was the team's best period, as they did manage a little fight early in the frame, but that's not saying much. The last ten minutes saw Chicago outchance the Leafs 6-1, and the game petered out for Toronto without much serious threat of posing a comeback.
Toronto had fewer chances in the Minnesota game, but had a better margin, as this was their worst game of the season. The 19 chances against at even strength were the highest of the season, as were the 25 overall.
A summary of the scoring chances:
| Status |
Overall |
ES |
| Team |
Toronto |
Chicago |
Toronto |
Chicago |
| 1 |
2 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
| 2 |
3 |
10 |
2 |
8 |
| 3 |
4 |
7 |
3 |
7 |
| Total |
9 |
25 |
6 |
19 |
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