If the Maple Leafs intended to test Craig Berube’s patience, then getting outworked in two consecutive opening periods in consecutive losses was the way to push his needle into red.
That Thursday’s 5-1 defeat to the St. Louis Blues was his first game against the team that fired him last year likely turned his face crimson, too. The Leafs, in particular their first line and scoring specialists, also let down Joseph Woll in his first start of the season.
The two losses — a back-to-back in Columbus, after an impressive start to the week against Tampa Bay, and Thursday versus a club much weaker on paper than when Berube led them to the 2019 Stanley Cup — are the first rough waters encountered by the new coach.
A difficult stretch of schedule continues on the road Saturday in Boston, where the Leafs lost Game 7 of the playoffs last spring, and on to undefeated Winnipeg (6-0-0) on Monday.
The 2-0 deficit in Thursday’s first period reflected on captain Auston Matthews in particular as Pavel Buchnevich slipped behind him in front of Woll and both screened the goalie on Philip Broberg’s long shot. Matthews was later too engrossed in a penalty-killing scrum in the corner, leaving Dylan Holloway uncovered for a pass and easy deke. It was just the fifth power-play goal Toronto has allowed on 31 chances.
At the other end, Leafs defenceman Simon Benoit’s hustle created a late-period scoring chance for Matthews with Jordan Binnington out of his crease, but Matthews chipped it wide. Matthews and John Tavares just missed a back-door play on one of two power plays, while two more misses dropped the Leafs to 3-for-26 this year, 4-for-48 counting its costly misfires in the Bruins series.
The Scotiabank Arena crowd of 18,414 started a round of boos after the last man advantage drained away.
Woll, back from his latest stint on injured reserve (lower body) gave up two goals on the first five shots, but soon after denied Brayden Schenn on a breakaway and another big stop on Mathieu Joseph on a rush that began when a puck bounced away from Morgan Rielly. The alternate captain did atone for that on some nice passing that paid off with Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s first as a Leaf.
Blues coach Drew Bannister, who learned the day before that top scorer Robert Thomas will be out weeks with a fractured ankle, had warned his team they couldn’t outskill the Leafs. But Leafs mistakes helped that process, right up to William Nylander losing the puck in the third period that turned into a 3-on-1 that Jake Neighbours buried.
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Holloway added another to drop the top line of Matthews, Mitch Marner and Matthew Knies to a collective minus-3.
With Max Pacioretty missing after a lower-body injury in Columbus, Berube promoted Steven Lorentz to the former’s third-line spot with Tavares and Nick Robertson. Tavares and Robertson were the Leafs’ shot leaders. There were more instances of the Leafs being overcreative when they did hem in St. Louis, though Binnington, who would like a shot at the Team Canada cage at the 4 Nations Face-off in February, was hot in his hometown, making 40 saves.
Anthony Stolarz, with his .938 save percentage, is the Leafs’ projected starter in Boston.
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