This Toronto Maple Leafs team seems incapable of capitalizing on momentum of any kind, and it’s getting more painful to watch by the day. On Thursday night, they were shut out 4-0 by the Washington Capitals and limited to only 22 shots, going 0-for-5 on the power play with Auston Matthews and William Nylander kept from the scoresheet and from making any sort of impact.
There was the blowout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. There was the feel-good win over the Utah Mammoth that Matias Maccelli (who, at this point, probably deserves another look) scored the game winning goal in. And there was the thrilling comeback at home against the Chicago Blackhawks on the night they honoured Joe Bowen. All opportunities where the Leafs could have taken the moral points and used it to spark some positive momentum, and failed to. And with only three games remaining before Christmas, they have yet to win more than three games in a row.
It wasn’t a great performance from Dennis Hildeby, but he’s far down the list of people to blame for this effort. The Leafs failed to get any sort of offensive zone time both at even strength, and embarrassingly enough, on the power play. They seemed to lose any sort of footspeed they carried on their zone entries, and it resulted in countless giveaways and no real threatening chances with the man advantage. It got to a point where, on their fifth power play, head coach Craig Berube sent the second unit out while down 3-0 with over half of the period still to play. For a group of players as talented as Matthews, Nylander, John Tavares, and Matthew Knies, their struggles with an extra skater on the ice continue to baffle.
It’s hard to say what needs to come next with this team. They’re not only playing bad hockey, they’re playing uninspired, uncreative hockey. They don’t threaten anybody when they enter the zone and they don’t convert on the chances they do get. It starts with the coach and it’s shared by the players.