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The Toronto Maple Leafs finished their three-game season-opening homestand with a disappointing 4-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
After scoring 12 goals in wins over Montreal and Minnesota, the Leafs were stymied by Hawks goalie Arvid Soderblom, who allowed only a second-period goal by John Tavares and made 34 saves for his first victory of the season. The concern for Toronto once again was their shoddy defensive play, allowing a clear-cut breakaway to Leafs nemesis Corey Perry on the game-winner and a free path to goalie Joseph Woll on Tyler Johnson’s power-play goal.
what a pass pic.twitter.com/AY7xqeSgAR
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) October 17, 2023
Woll was good in his first start, a 27-save effort, but after the game head coach Sheldon Keefe was accurate in pointing out a common theme for the club over the first three games.
"I thought we were really sloppy with the puck in the first period and then we got beat in transition in the second period. It's really it." Keefe said after the game. "I thought Joe was good. The goals he let in, guys were in alone on him. We didn't get in alone on their goalie, I don't think at all, the whole night….and they got three goals alone on him; that's the difference."
The disturbing trend so far has been the Leafs taking care of the puck in their own end and turning over the puck in places where it allows the opposition to counterattack and create odd-man chances. It is early in the season and traditionally, NHL clubs play more undisciplined before settling into a more responsible two-way game.
Toronto in recent years has allowed opposition not at their level to steal points. In what portends to be a close race in the Atlantic Division, they fell behind Montreal (who are expected to finish at the bottom of the division) by two goals twice and rallied with two extra attacker goals in the last five minutes of regulation and lost to a hodge-podge collection of players on the rebuilding Hawks.
One area that bares watching is the Leafs penalty killing. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner were used in heavy rotation on the PK on Monday, due in part because Toronto was behind and trying to narrow the gap in the third period. They are using primarily Marner, Matthews, David Kampf and Calle Jarnkrok as the forwards, but they mixed in rookies Fraser Minten and Matthew Knies in the second and that resulted in Johnson’s goal with the man advantage.
Tyler Johnson makes it 3-1 on the power play pic.twitter.com/26c8jtrJ2x
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) October 17, 2023
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