One point out of four.
Not a great back-to-back set this weekend for the Maple Leafs, who lost 2-1 in overtime in Minnesota on Sunday after falling in regulation in St. Louis 24 hours earlier.
Our takeaways from the loss against the Wild at the Xcel Energy Centre:
STOLARZ STANDS TALL
Anthony Stolarz is the Leafs’ No. 1 goalie. Whether coach Craig Berube agrees, we’ll find out on Tuesday when the Boston Bruins visit Scotiabank Arena.
Stolarz should be in the net against the Bruins, having had a large hand in getting the Leafs to a single point in Minnesota.
It’s not just what Stolarz did in St. Paul as Toronto gutted through a tough third period to emerge with something to show for the effort. The 30-year-old has been rock solid through all of his eight games in his first season with the Leafs, instilling confidence in his teammates as Joseph Woll recovered from groin tightness and since the youngster returned to the lineup.
Against the Wild, Stolarz made 31 saves, and wasn’t at fault on the overtime winner, as Matt Boldy beat him on a breakaway.
Minnesota went 0-for-3 on the power play. One reason was a remarkable glove save by Stolarz on Marcus Johansson as Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson served a double minor late in the second period.
In the third, the Leafs clearly were dealing with fatigue as the Wild outshot them 11-5 and had 23 attempts to the Leafs’ six. Stolarz wasn’t beaten once in the final 20 minutes of regulation.
“Outstanding,” Leafs defenceman Morgan Rielly told reporters in St. Paul. “He has been great all year. Tonight was no different. You could argue that he kept us in it for periods of time.”
The Leafs’ plan was to perhaps not necessarily rotate Stolarz and Woll, but not go with one guy if both were playing well. Woll hasn’t been spectacular in three games.
The game against the Bruins is followed by a back-to-back set against Detroit and Montreal, on Friday and Saturday respectively, with both games on home ice for the Leafs.
Woll will get one of those starts. He shouldn’t start against the Bruins, as that would give him two in the Leafs’ next three matches.
A coach will always say that the lineup he uses is the one that he thinks will give the team the best chance to win that night. Right now, that Leafs team is the one with Stolarz in goal.
POWER, TO A POINT
It figured that on the night the Leafs scored a power-play goal — their first such goal on the road in seven games — it accounted for all of their offence.
Players generally don’t, or shouldn’t, take small victories out of losses. But when your power play is sputtering at 3-for-38 going in, sitting last in the National Hockey League and you score with a man advantage, naturally, you will take a big positive out of that.
“That’s good for the confidence, to see one go in,” said captain Auston Matthews, who set up William Nylander in the final minute of the first period. “The last couple of games, we’ve been moving (the puck) pretty well. Hopefully that gets us rolling and we continue to make that a big factor in our game.”
Well, yes. With the offensive talent the Leafs, it’s offensive that they have been so poor on the power play.
Desperate to get a shot on the power play to fall, Berube used his top five forwards on the No. 1 unit with Matthews, Nylander, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and Matthew Knies. Having Marner on the blue line, and not Rielly or Oliver Ekman-Larsson, was a nice touch.
Marner isn’t going to blast away from the point, but he has more than enough creativity to get the puck into good areas, and to the net, from that position. Berube shouldn’t go away from the all-forward unit on Tuesday.
Those points by Nylander and Matthews on the goal represented their only piece of production in the two weekend games. That’s not close to good enough for a pair paid to put the Leafs over the top in tight games.
Nylander’s nine goals in 13 games? Super. Matthews’ five goals in 13 games? Not so much. More production is needed from the captain, power play or not.
OUT OF THEIR DEPTH
The Leafs’ third line, specifically Max Domi and Bobby McMann, has gone bone-dry. Domi has zero points in his past seven games. McMann has matched that futility.
The best teams don’t have a large drop-off in production once they get past their top six forwards.
Domi and McMann have to find a way to get something going, because Berube might not have the appetite to break up the trio of Tavares between Max Pacioretty and Nylander (though the line had a rough go on Sunday). There’s no offensive punch coming from the fourth line.
Nick Robertson hasn’t held up his end when he has been in the lineup. One goal in 11 games for the 23-year-old, especially after he had a good pre-season, is well below what we expected after he found ways to put the puck in the net with limited ice time under former coach Sheldon Keefe. A look with Domi and McMann on Sunday had no impact on the scoreboard.
The night ended badly for Domi, who was on the ice for well over a minute in overtime when he thought it would be a good idea to flip the puck out of the Leafs’ end and try to outrace Wild captain Jared Spurgeon to it.
Didn’t happen, as Spurgeon beat Domi to the puck, wheeled around fed Marco Rossi up the middle, who sent Boldy in for the winner.
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