The Leafs' special teams woes deepened on Saturday, with the club falling to 30th in the NHL after managing just a single shot with the man advantage in a loss to Montreal.
Throughout the course of the season, Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube seemed unconcerned about his team's inability to execute on the power play. However, his tune changed after the club went 0-for-3 in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.
“The PP’s got to come through for us and it didn’t,” Berube said following the game.
While special teams struggles certainly weren't the sole reason the Leafs came away with just one point , their second-period performance resembled the struggling team fans saw at Scotiabank Arena before the club departed on a successful six-game road trip.
Berube has experimented with different formations, including placing star center Auston Matthews on the point as part of a five-forward set. After that arrangement surrendered shorthanded goals, the Leafs pivoted back to Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the point. They also kept rookie forward Easton Cowan on the unit, replacing the net-front presence of Matthew Knies.
Despite Berube lauding Cowan’s play-making ability and potential contributions to the unit, the Leafs' power play efficiency has fallen to 14.1 percent, dropping them to 30th out of 32 NHL teams.
“Right now, what I see when I watch it is they're unsure of themselves a little bit,” Berube observed. “In particular, the power play in the second period moved it well. We don't take a shot. The shots are there. We're not taking them. Then when we do take a shot, it's probably the wrong time. They're not feeling too good about themselves out there.”
“Obviously, they're not seeing it right now. So, [we’ve] got to work through it,” Berube continued. “That's all you can do. We got to work through it and try to create some chemistry here.”
The Leafs managed just one shot on goal on the power play for the entire game. Conversely, the Canadiens generated eight shots on their three power plays and scored their only regulation goal with the man advantage—a Cole Caufield tally in the second period.
It is certainly not the only reason the Leafs lost; the team endured a terrible second period that could have been a disaster had it not been for the stellar performance of Dennis Hildeby in goal.
However, when a key power play arose with the game tied in the third period, the Leafs failed to generate momentum. One has to wonder exactly how many points in the standings they have surrendered due to a lack of execution with the man advantage.
“We've got to be better in the third [period] here when we have a chance to kind of go ahead and the game is on the line,” Oliver Ekman-Larsson admitted. “I think we've got to step up, but obviously he's trying to give those guys a little bit more time and space with the puck.”
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