Toronto's 3-for-30 power play is the fourth-worst in the NHL, ahead of Washington, Anaheim, and Buffalo.
Saturday was another game filled with missed opportunities on the power play from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The major discussion entering Saturday's game between the Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins was Toronto's underperforming power play. They had three goals on 28 opportunities heading into TD Garden, and that record didn't get any more positive when they left the arena after a 3-2 loss.
Toronto tweaked their power play units in-game, returning Morgan Rielly to the team's top unit and placing Oliver Ekman-Larsson back with the second group. Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said the swap was "to see if something could happen."
But the Maple Leafs struggled, specifically with their zone entries on the power play, and couldn't find the back of the net on three opportunities, one of which was a 5-on-3.
"I mean, there was two empty nets, and we just don't put them in," Berube said Saturday night. "It'll come. I'm confident in this team, and they're going to get it going. They'll get it going on the power play."
In several instances, Toronto struggled to get into Boston's end of the rink during the man advantage. Earlier in the season, the Maple Leafs spoke about being disconnected on the power play, and that appeared to be the case at some points on Saturday.
"I mean, we're just off by a hair every once in a while. You know, bouncing pucks," Mitch Marner said on Saturday.
"We just got to sometimes maybe be a little smarter and just chip it down low, get a hard rim or something like that, and just start from there and just try to break pressure off that.
Toronto is creating chances, at times — that's clear from watching their games. But a power play isn't going to have much success when the five players on the ice appear disjointed when entering the zone.
That must change if the Maple Leafs want continued success on the man advantage.
"I think in the grand scheme of things, when you look at the game, it might not be going your way. I think it all comes down to execution and then it goes from there, whether it's work ethic or preparation or whatever," Rielly, who had a goal in the game, said after Saturday's loss.
"I think it just starts with execution. That's all."