GO LEAVES GO!
FIRST PERIOD
Hey, for once it’s the Leafs getting the first power play of the game. Please, for our sanity, score on this and start an eruption early.
Narrator: They didn’t. It looked like a pretty poopy power play aside from that one chance.
But it’s better, because now Toronto took a penalty to have a chance to go down 1-0 early.
Narrator: They didn’t either, and that was a pretty poopy power play, too. After killing him, Engvall, with his reach and excellent skating, created a 2-on-1 chance to start in the defensive zone, but was stopped.
We are now five minutes from the start of the period, four of which are power play for either team, and there has been a grand total of four shots attempts between the two. At the risk of manifesting a curse, SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!
Toronto listened, as they blocked Arizona for a solid two minutes, including a full line change while cycling in the offensive zone. Unfortunately, no good shots or scoring chances were achieved. It feels like a game that Toronto will control like 60% of expected shot attempts and goals and lose 1-0. So far 10 minutes of play and they’re sitting at 87.5% and 100% respectively.
And yet, 5 minutes from the end of the period, the shots on goal are only 5-3 for Toronto. Källgren didn’t have to make any hard saves, but he may be consuming smelling salts at a record pace just to stay awake.
As the period draws to a close, Toronto come back on the power play after – and you can’t make this up – Nick Ritchie inflicts a silly penalty on Michael Bunting.
But Toronto got no shots at the net and, after time expired, Toronto were awarded a penalty with less than two minutes left in the period. And the most predictable thing in the world happened, as Nick Ritchie scores to give Arizona a 1-0 lead, which is also Arizona’s first lead of the season. The period ends shortly thereafter.
First period thoughts
Offense: Frankly? Pretty mediocre, by what you expect from a team like Toronto. They had 78% of attempted shots and 76% of expected goals at 5v5, but the actual quantity and quality of what they generated was low. Even with two power plays and so much time at the end of Arizona, they only got 5 shots on goal in all situations and didn’t even get to 1.0 in expected bases. It’s just not good enough.
Defense: It was… I don’t know if you can say “good” considering how bad Arizona is, but they gave up 4 shots in total at 5 on 5. Hard to get much better than that .
Special teams: Their power plays looked like crap and they allowed a shorthanded goal. That’s bad, that’s my comment.
Remarkable: Honestly, nobody. Marner looked shrewd, but it didn’t lead to anything dangerous, other than maybe a moment on the power play.
heat map:
![](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Game-4-recap-Maple-Leafs-lose-to-Coyotes.png)
PERIOD TWO
Toronto opens the period looking unhappy on both sides. Having no real offense and giving up the chances of rushing against. Källgren had to make his first hard save of the game.
After that, Toronto started getting some at least decent chances. But they also give up some cons. Neither really matters if they don’t start scoring friggin goals.
Arizona takes a 2-0 lead, and I want to rant a second here. I know a defensive breakdown has to happen for the other team to get a shot from the slot. I know this shot is a good chance to score. But Erik, fucking Källgren, what the hell are you doing??? He just… pushed himself off the post or tripped, and left his five hole open, so he was barely protecting anything.
And just after the goal, Toronto defends in its own zone and Justin Holl receives a late game penalty. They killed him, but after that they spend even more time at their own end. They went from controlling the game and losing, to not even controlling the game and losing more. Not a good combination.
But they are gifted with another power play and jesus murphy NEED to score here and start turning things around.
Narrator: They didn’t.
And with minutes left in the period, they’ve taken a penalty from too many men and are now outplayed by Arizona for good measure. It’s absolutely pathetic. It’s one thing to outplay a bad team and lose, it’s another to look completely ineffective and lazy just because you’re down two goals.
Second period thoughts
It was bad. They lose on special teams, they lose at even strength, on shot attempts, on expected goals, everything. I can’t underestimate how bad they were in the second half. In the first, they at least controlled the game. They couldn’t say that in the second. And I’m mostly annoyed because I know they could go a month without losing a game after that. They could come back to win this game and continue that month-long winning streak.
At this point I refuse to put more effort into this recap than they are in the game. So I will only add anything to this recap if they ever do something for the rest of the game
PERIOD THREE
Hey, they scored on the power play and JT got his 900th point. It’s something!
Oh hey, the dam is broken. Marner scores a rebound and it’s a draw. It is also something. Now it’s interesting again.
But they give up a power play goal after Justin Holl failed to clear it. Even less interesting.
Tie game again… maybe! Alex Kerfoot scores a crazy flip from the point leading to a scramble. But the lens is being revised for… reasons I still can’t figure out. Apparently it was because of a missed stoppage, for a high stick or a hand pass maybe? And he was called back because, of course, he was.
Final Thoughts
The less said about the second period, the better. The third period was also pretty bad until they finally scored, at which point they looked more like the first period where they were in control and didn’t give Arizona much.
Until they gave up a late power-play goal because Arizona’s power play apparently couldn’t be stopped.
To sum up the game? Offensively, they struggled to break through the Coyotes at even strength for much of the game. They piled into the middle of the ice and scrambled to avoid dangerous chances, and Toronto just couldn’t solve the problem.
Defensively, they mostly struggled to manage pucks in their own end and clear the zone when they had opportunities too. These are the costly mistakes.
The special teams were pretty bad. They had several power plays where they couldn’t get a single shot on net.
And while they could have enjoyed a break, appeals from referees/league review officials did not follow through.
#Game #recap #Maple #Leafs #lose #Coyotes