The Toronto Maple Leafs allowed two shorthanded goals on a single power-play in the third period in a 4-1 loss to the lowly Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
VANCOUVER — It came down to one no good, very bad power play in the third period to see what looked like a potential comeback bid for the Maple Leafs implode before their very eyes.
The Toronto Maple Leafs fell to the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 on Saturday night at Rogers Arena. It wasn't so much that they lost the game to one of the worst teams in the NHL, but rather the fashion in which it occurred.
Toronto had just tied the game 1-1 when John Tavares scored a power-play goal at 1:32 of the third period. Moments later, Canucks forward Phillip Di Giuseppe was assessed a high-sticking penalty.
But Vancouver read Toronto's formation perfectly.
First, they intercepted Maple Leafs' captain John Tavares' pass. The ensuing play led to a 2-on-1 situation that Vancouver's Elias Pettersson handled easily.
J.T. Miller took advantage with another shorthanded goal just 44 seconds later.
"At that point in the game on the power play, you can’t let that happen. It’s as simple as that," Morgan Rielly said.
The Maple Leafs' defenseman was on the ice for both shorthanded goals allowed. He was also on the ice for Vancouver’s fourth and final goal as the Maple Leafs struggled to build off a first period in which they dominated from a possession standpoint with an 84 percent expected goals-for rate, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
The Leafs struggled to build off that momentum, and despite having the power play tied the game early in the third, mistakes buried the Leafs.
"I think (we're) just not on the same page," Matthews said of the power-play unit. "A couple of bad decisions and they’ve got good players on the PK. They read the play pretty well and it put us in a pretty big hole."
The Maple Leafs have rolled with the same first power-play unit of Rielly, Matthews, Tavares, William Nylander and Mitch Marner when all five players have been available and healthy. At times they have experimented with a five-forward power play, however, that strategy could have had an equally disastrous outcome had it been deployed on Friday.
Time to change up the power-play units?
The Leafs have added many players last month ahead of the trade deadline including forward Ryan O'Reilly from the St. Louis Blues and defenseman Erik Gustafsson from the Washington Capitals. Both took reps on the second power-play unit on Saturday. Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said he didn't consider putting out his second unit to start the faceoff when they gave up the first shorthanded goal in the third period, given that they were successful in scoring a goal just minutes prior.
But perhaps it may be time to change the look of the main unit with more players now in the mix. Although the Leafs are tied for fourth in the NHL with a 25.1 percent power-play efficiency, they have scored just two goals in their last 29 opportunities. (6.9 percent).
"You’re torn on it because they did score us a big goal," Keefe said of the power play. "We had a chance to really take hold of the game, and we failed to execute on that. In that case, their best players were better than ours there."
O'Reilly may not be in any sort of mix for a change, since he left the game in the second period with an apparent hand injury and an update on his status will come when the team practices on Monday.