The Toronto Maple Leafs salvaged a point against the San Jose Sharks but arguably had their worst game of the season yet.
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t have it on Thursday.
From the opening faceoff when San Jose Sharks forward Logan Couture out-skated Justin Holl and Auston Matthews for the game-opening goal on the first shift of the game, to their abysmal second period where connecting on a first pass was challenging, Toronto looked like a disconnected bunch in a 4-3 overtime loss a SAP Arena.
“There’s times where we were stagnant and couldn’t get much going,” Matthews said.
The Maple Leafs were outshot 31-25 and lost the possession battle to a Sharks club that mustered just their third win in 10 games this season.
After David Kampf scored his Leafs-leading third even-strength goal of the season — a stat that on its own should be a concern for the club’s anemic offense — Toronto gave up two power-play goals after TJ Brodie and Pierre Engvall took simultaneous penalties that forced a 5-on-3 for San Jose.
Every goal scored by the Sharks was preventable. Unlike previous losses this season where they had an edge on shot attempts or dominated in possession and shot tallies, the Leafs struggled on routine breakouts and simple passes.
Everything that happened to Toronto on Thursday was self-inflicted.
“We’ve got to figure out these turnovers,” Mitch Marner said. “We’re giving teams odd-man rushes, a lot of chances. Our team has been so good over the years of getting pucks back creating offense off that. The forward group, we’ve got to get way hungrier on that puck. We’ve got to create our chances up the ice and help our D a little more.”
Marner scored late in the second period to bring Toronto to within a goal after 40 minutes. Matthews busted out of a goal-scoring slump with a power-play goal in the third period to tie things up 3-3.
A costly turnover in overtime by William Nylander led to Erik Karlsson’s game-winner.
The Maple Leafs fell to 4-3-1 this season. Unlike their previous losses, they just didn’t have sustained periods of firepower like in any of the previous games.
“We’re just not connecting on passes, like tape-to-tape passes where we’re either just making the wrong decision to pass to the wrong guy or we’re holding on too long and it gets disrupted,” Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said. “That’s a big problem for us. Our inability to move the puck up the ice efficiently is slowing down our game on offense and it’s hurting our game defensively because we’re just getting stressed.”
When asked if the forwards have to be better in getting back, Keefe respond by saying it starts with his defense and that their first touches have to be better.
Keefe didn’t anticipate making any changes to the defense pairs as a result of the game, but you got a real sense that frustration has shifted from what was originally the coach to players.
After losses against the Montreal Canadiens, Arizona Coyotes, and most recently, the Vegas Golden Knights, it was Keefe who had some choice words about the game while players took it in stride. But now players are showing signs of frustration in their inability to gain some traction this season.
After Michael Bunting didn’t receive what he perceived to be a penalty call on a play, he slammed the bench door hard in disgust. Marner was visibly upset when former teammate Alexander Barabanov appeared to slew foot him with no call on the play.
These are little things that become bigger issues when things aren’t going their way.
Toronto’s record through eight games is better than the 3-4-1 start they had last season when tension was high. But Toronto has gotten used to being able to carry their ability of being one of, if not, the best possession teams in the league.
That has been their template since Keefe took over as coach of the club in November of 2019. And their game against the Sharks was the furthest removed from it.
“I just don’t think we’ve really put together a full 60-minute game. I think that consistency within the game and momentum shifts and stuff are kinda hurting us right now."
Tavares line struggles
A bright spot through the first seven games of the season, the line had no attempts at San Jose’s net in the first period and finished with an expected goals rate of just 27 percent via NaturalStatTrick.com.
Kallgren’s performance
He had his moments but allowed four goals on 31 shots on goal. Kallgren didn’t look particularly strong on Couture’s first goal in the opening minute of the game nor the Karlsson overtime winner.
Kampf’s impact and streak ends
The Maple Leafs had an all-time record of 15-0-0 including two playoff games when David Kampf scores a goal for them. That’s now 15-0-1. After scoring in the first period, Keefe used his Czech center a little more as he logged over six minutes of even-strength ice time in the opening minute. He finished the game with 13:28 total ice time.