The Toronto Maple Leafs best the Dallas Stars 3-1 last night at home.
The win was a nice gift for the Leafs who stopped the bleeding after allowing 22 goals in their previous four games. Curtis McElhinney got the win and made 40 saves.
The Toronto Maple Leaf can’t be too excited about this win however. A look at the stats – via Corsica.hockey is not flattering.
Not only did Toronto allow 40 shots, but Dallas controlled much of the play, possession the puck 55% of the time at 5v5. In total, the Stars attempted 75 shots to the Leafs 62.
Break Down
If we use Corsica to break down the game further, we see that the Leafs really got lucky with the score. The Maple Leafs were able to shut-out Dallas at even-strength, even though based on their play, Dallas should have scored almost 3 goals.
The Maple Leafs, for the first time in five games, got excellent goaltending and while I have no idea who the actual “star of the game” was, it should definitely have been McElhinney.
What’s Going on With Babcock?
People get mad when you criticize Mike Babcock. Doing so doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s a great coach. But he is making some very strange decisions. Mostly involving player deployment.
Despite stats that say he isn’t being very successful, Zaitsev continues to be the Maple Leafs most used player. He is overmatched on the top line, and always gives up more shots than he gets.
Last night he skated nearly 17 minutes at 5v5. He was absolutely crushed with a 33% CF rating. That is a sub-enforcer level performance.
Even worse is Ben Smith. What this cat is doing in the big leagues is beyond this jazz fan. In 8 minutes of ice time last night (5v5) Smith was a bizarre 8% CF. That is a single digit Corsi, just in case you thought I was making a typo.
Smith was on the ice for eleven shot-attempts against and one for. If there is a less effective line in the NHL of Smith, Martin and Soshnikov, I am not aware of it.
The Good
Obviously the final score is good. However, breaking out of a slump with a lucky win isn’t exactly the best thing that can happen. It could lead to false confidence.
Matthews getting his 25th goal was rad.
The only players on the Toronto Maple Leafs last night who were on the ice for more shot-attempts for than against were Kadri, Van Riemsdyk, Bozak and Gardiner.
Overall, McElhinny is the only reason the Leafs won last night. They played a bad game, the coach doesn’t seem to realize that his most used defenseman is playing terribly.
Somehow the Leafs took 3 of 4 points to kick off the week, even though they played two awful games.
stats from corsica.hockey
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