Less than 24 hours after testing themselves against one of the best teams in the West, the Toronto Maple Leafs were back under the bright lights — this time, to take on a powerhouse in the East. The energy of Saturday’s six-goal outing at home against the Edmonton Oilers didn’t quite make the trip south to Raleigh, however, as the Maple Leafs couldn’t muster up much offence in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.
This weekend had been circled on the club’s calendar for a while now, offering the team two solid measuring sticks against which to gauge their playoff readiness; two worthy opponents capable of pointing out flaws to be fixed before the field narrows — as does the margin for error, along with it.
The Maple Leafs didn’t need to wait long to learn their first lesson of the evening Sunday night, their sluggish start out of the gates following the 6 p.m. ET puck drop costing them dearly. A giveaway by Jake McCabe saw the Hurricanes score on their first shot of the game, a screened Joseph Woll given no chance to save it. A series of sloppy penalties, including an obvious high-stick from Nick Robertson, exposed the Leafs’ troublesome penalty kill, which gave up odd-man rush after odd-man rush.
And yet, the Maple Leafs remained in the game, thanks to Woll’s stellar performance. But despite a surge of energy in the third period, Toronto’s slow start built up a hurdle too high to overcome.
Could Woll play himself into the Maple Leafs’ top job for playoffs?
With the post-season on the horizon, every game brings a clue or two as to what head coach Sheldon Keefe is thinking about his roster, from line combinations and special teams configurations to the pecking order in the blue paint. And this weekend brought plenty to think about.
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Heading into this weekend’s back-to-back, the sense was that whichever goalie started Saturday against Edmonton would most likely be the Game 1 starter in the playoffs. Ilya Samsonov got the nod, and while his performance proved Keefe’s faith to be well-placed, his early exit in the third period due to an apparent injury brought some doubt.
Though all signs point to Samsonov dodging any serious injury — “Looks like he’s going to be fine,” Keefe said post-game Saturday — there was a little extra riding on Woll’s performance Sunday.
And the rookie certainly came through.
Woll, who didn’t dress Saturday night but rather flew ahead of the team to Raleigh, registered a season-high 41 saves — including one on a penalty shot by Jake Guentzel — to keep the Maple Leafs in it until the end.
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Between his solid numbers throughout this season and Sunday’s clutch performance behind a low-energy squad, it’ll be interesting to see how Keefe approaches his crease down the stretch, and how that informs his strategy come playoff time.
Maple Leafs must clean up messy penalty kill
The state of the Maple Leafs’ messy penalty kill has been a storyline all season long, and Sunday’s showing against the league’s second-best power play didn’t exactly yield many highlights. Toronto’s penalty kill is ranked 26th in the NHL — you won’t find many playoff-bound teams down there — and it’s been particularly bad this month, operating at a 68.6 per cent kill rate. Including Sebastian Aho’s first-period power-play marker, which gave Carolina a 2-0 lead early on Sunday, the Maple Leafs have allowed 11 power-play goals in 11 games in March.
Cleaning up the struggling unit is a big ask at the best of times, let alone when you’re missing do-it-all star and clutch P.K. man Mitch Marner as well as another valuable skater in Calle Jarnkrok.
What’s next for Nick Robertson?
Sunday’s game against Carolina felt like a microcosm of Nick Robertson’s career in Toronto so far. When he’s great, he’s great — but his gaffes can get the best of him at times, too.
Early in the second period as the Leafs were starting to show a little life, Robertson took an obvious high-stick penalty when he attempted to bat the puck near a Hurricanes player’s head. While the Maple Leafs successfully killed the penalty, it didn’t help the team’s momentum and brought plenty of speculation about how much longer this particular call-up might last for the 22-year-old, who’s also spent parts of the season with the AHL Marlies. (Let’s hope he’s not scrolling on social media much these days.)
Then, in the third, his play jumped from frustrating to fun with a laser-beam one-timer to put the Leafs on the board and bring a jolt of life on offence.
While March tends to be a time of fine-tuning and course-correcting for teams looking ahead to playoff runs to come, for players like Robertson it’s also a crucial audition time. Whether those flashes of firepower will be enough to stick in the lineup once Marner and Jarnkrok return will be a storyline to follow down the stretch.
