"The Leafs are an injured hockey team right now, and nobody will deny that. They had shown signs of life in their last couple of games despite not always having the result reflect it, but going down 4-0 by midway through the second period is inexcusable when you're in the position of the Maple Leafs, as Martin St. Louis would likely say about the Habs had it happened the other way."
"He may want a couple of the goals he allowed back, but the team seemingly stopped skating after the Canadiens scored their first goal. The second period was even worse, as it's typically been this season, to the point where the Leafs had a pathetically low 9% expected goals rating (xG). Whether you're an analytics fan or not, you can acknowledge that hovering around a 0% chance to score any goals is pretty less than ideal."
Two division rivals met with both teams struggling; the Canadiens ended a five-game skid while the Maple Leafs entered 1-4-2 in their previous seven. Montreal dominated at home and won 5-2 after Toronto collapsed following the opening goal. The Maple Leafs are hampered by injuries but also produced an inexcusable second period, generating a pathetically low 9% expected goals (xG) and virtually no scoring chance. Joseph Woll was pulled after allowing four goals on 25 shots, though the defensive effort and team skating waned. Toronto must decide whether to fully commit to proving playoff and Cup contender status amid an open Atlantic Division.
Read at TheLeafsNation
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]