Never mind the power play, here’s the Maple Leafs penalty kill.
On a night that the Leafs finally got their act together with a man advantage, beating Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman three times in a complete 4-0 win at Scotiabank Arena, those tasked with killing off minors went about what has become their effective ways.
You will recall that the penalty kill was a sore point in what turned out to be Sheldon Keefe’s last season as Leafs coach, finishing 23rd in 2023-24 with a success rate of 76.9%.
It’s humming now with associate coach Lane Lambert running the shorthanded show. The Leafs didn’t allow a goal on six Bruins power plays on Tuesday night, putting them at 86% through 14 games. That had the Leafs at seventh in the National Hockey League before all games were completed on Tuesday.
“We know the game plan out there, at the same time it’s us reading and reacting off of it and trusting each other in where we’re going to be,” winger Mitch Marner said after the shutout victory. “We’ve done a great job of clearing the puck 200 feet, supporting one another in battles, getting the puck out clearly. It has been great. We have to keep it going.”
Indeed. As much as coach Craig Berube would like to curb some of the Leafs’ discipline issues, there remains a high number of calls going against Toronto. The Leafs have been shorthanded 57 times, which was second to Boston’s NHL-high 63.
On Tuesday, with captain Auston Matthews nursing an upper-body injury and out of the lineup, David Kampf excelled on the PK, playing more than seven minutes. Marner was a shade over six minutes while the Leafs were shorthanded, while defencemen Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev also logged heavy minutes.
When a save was required, Anthony Stolarz was there to stop the puck on the way to recording his first shutout with Toronto and ninth of his NHL career. With each save, we wonder how Stolarz hasn’t been able to nail down a full-time starter’s role in the NHL.
Anyway, back to Kampf.
“He has been really good lately, for a while now,” Berube said in reference to Kampf’s work on the kill. “He was strong at the faceoff dot, which was good. I think it was more him getting to understand our penalty kill and trigger points. He has really taken on that role and he relishes it. He’s doing a great job.”
Defenceman Morgan Rielly agreed.
“His role is challenging when you’re playing against the best players in the world, trying to keep them off the scoresheet,” Rielly said. “It’s not easy, but he’s outstanding. Very good defensively, very good in the faceoff circle. There’s a lot of value there.
“All those guys (on the kill), I don’t think really get enough credit.”
When Berube was hiring his staff during the summer, what led him to add Lambert? The latter has an extensive coaching record, including the previous two seasons as head coach of the New York Islanders.
Lambert came on the recommendation of Nashville Predators general manager Barry Trotz, who had Lambert on his coaching staff with the Predators, Washington Capitals and the Islanders.
“Trotzie and I talked about it and he thought he would be a great fit,” Berube said. “I heard nothing but great things about him as a coach and a person, and it’s all true. He’s detailed and a great guy to work with, fits in really well with the coaching staff. Very intelligent.”
We’ve talked a lot in this market about the style of hockey the Leafs are going to have to play to be successful in the Stanley Cup playoffs next spring. Berube preaches the proper amount of grit and physicality to mix with the skill, and the Leafs have had good spurts of that through the initial stages.
They’re going to need top-notch special teams to win in the playoffs. That’s a given.
As the power play continues to emerge from its slumber, the penalty killers have been making consistently significant strides.
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