If you listened to some of the pre-game chatter ahead of Saturday’s Toronto Maple Leafs–Chicago Blackhawks game you would have heard some people comparing this young Leafs team to the Blackhawks of nearly a decade ago.
The root of that lofty comparison seemed to be the fact that those Blackhawks were led by a teenage Patrick Kane and a young Jonathan Toews, while this year’s Leafs are led by Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner among other rising talents.
Toews and Marner are Canadians, both top-five selections and both drafted one year prior to their American superstar teammate who went first overall. Stylistically, of course, Matthews is more similar to the two-way centre Toews whereas Marner’s game resembles his fellow London Knights alumnus Kane.
The Maple Leafs are certainly a team on the rise, as were those Blackhawks who advanced to the Western Conference Final in Toews and Kane’s sophomore season before winning the Stanley Cup the following year. You have to remember, however, that in addition to Kane and Toews those Blackhawks squads also boasted the likes of Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Patrick Sharp among other significant pieces.
It has only been five games but these Maple Leafs haven’t really shown any signs that they could be Stanley Cup contenders in the next two or three seasons. Mike Babcock’s team clearly has high-end talent to build around but at the moment they simply lack that ancillary skill to take them to the next level, which was apparent in Saturday’s 5-4 shootout loss.
With that in mind, here are a few takeaways from the game:
Maple Leafs don’t know how to win yet, especially not in Chicago
Toronto has held the lead after two periods in all five games this season, outscoring its opponents 16-8, yet it only has one win to show for it. Tyler Bozak was asked by Cassie Campbell-Pascall after 40 minutes what his team had to do to maintain its 3-2 lead.
“We just have to pretend it’s a tie game and get on them and keep playing our game,” he said. “We’ve got to learn how to win here and I think tonight’s a good night to start.”
When William Nylander scored his second of the game to put the Leafs up 4-2 it looked as though they were going to snap a nearly 14-year drought and finally win a game at the United Center. But goals from Artem Anisimov and former Leaf Richard Panik with less than 2:30 remaining in regulation and shootout tallies by Toews and Artemi Panarin spoiled that.
“It’s a tough situation,” defenceman Morgan Rielly said after the game. “I thought that we had ourselves in a good situation there in the third and we let it slip away. It’s something we need to get fixed.”
James van Riemsdyk added: “We’ve got to continue to play, continue to make plays, play confident, continue to attack. I think when we get into those situations we’re playing a little bit too passively.”
The last time the Maple Leafs won a game in Chicago was Feb. 12, 2003 when Tie Domi, Alyn McCauley and Jyrki Lumme scored for the Leafs and Ed Belfour made 32 saves in a 3-1 victory. To put into perspective just how long ago that was, Matthews and Marner were both five years old when it happened.
The Maple Leafs need to shake the stigma of being a team that can’t play with a lead. The silver lining to blowing late leads is as least they’re not losing all their games in regulation.
“We’ve managed to get points on the road, we could have won every game we’ve played in,” Babcock said. “We’ve got to find a way to put away the other team, for sure, especially in a situation like tonight. But, lots of positive things for us. Our goal is always to get six points in every five game segment here and we’ve come up one short.”
Matthews was fired up to play opposite Kane and it showed
The Leafs’ franchise centre recently told Sportsnet’s Luke Fox the American player he was most excited to play against was Kane.
“For me, being American and watching him since he’s been in the league, he’s one of my favourite players today,” Matthews said. “A very fun player to watch. He does something new every game.”
Matthews didn’t get the chance to play challenge Kane during the World Cup of Hockey last month because they were in different groups and neither Matthews’ Team North America nor Kane’s Team USA advanced beyond the round robin. Both players had impressive outings Saturday. Kane got an assist and was plus-3, while Matthews recorded a pair of assists that led to both Nylander goals and he became more dominant as the game went on.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Matthews had a strong showing. If you were an American kid like Matthews, wouldn’t you be fired up for a Saturday night showdown against one of your favourite players, especially after hearing Jim Cornelison’s iconic rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner prior to puck drop?
Blackhawks miserable PK continued to be miserable
The Blackhawks penalty kill hasn’t been sub-par. It has been downright abhorrent. Luckily for them they only took two penalties against the Leafs, otherwise it may have cost them the game. It took the Maple Leafs nearly 90 seconds to get set up in Chicago’s zone on their first power-play attempt but once they did it didn’t take long to bury one by Scott Darling.
The Blackhawks actually managed to successfully kill off the Leafs’ only other man advantage. Through six games, Chicago’s penalty kill has allowed 12 goals against and is operating at a paltry 42.9 per cent.
Andersen had his best game as a Leaf but still looked shaky
On the opening goal of the night, Frederik Andersen committed himself too far to the right side of the net while Panarin entered the zone with the puck and it resulted in Anisimov blasting a one-timer into an open cage. During the first intermission Don Cherry said he thought Andersen and the Leafs goaltending was “lousy.” Now, calling Andersen “lousy” might be a bit harsh — he did make 31 saves, including five in overtime — but his play so far this season has been worrisome for Leafs fans. Saturday marked the third time in five games Andersen has allowed at least one key third-period goal that ultimately ended in a 5-4 loss.
Prior to the game, Kelly Hrudey pointed out a few things Andersen does that might be contributing to his struggles.
It was mostly his rebound control that cost him Saturday.
“Some tough goals,” Andersen said after the game. “It would be nice to make a save in the last few minutes there to get the win.”