News Article: The middling penalty kill, Trevor Moore’s instant impact, Re-uniting Matthews-Nylander

ShaneFalco

Registered User
Jul 15, 2012
21,414
15,770
London, On
The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the midst of another strong campaign, currently on track to finish top five in the standings and generally sitting in the top half of most major categories.

They still struggle defensively, giving up the seventh most shots per game in the league, and one thing that is just as concerning is their penalty kill. It currently ranks 16th and is killing off 80.3 percent of their penalties. At this point, they are almost certainly playing the Bruins again in the playoffs, and Boston has the second-best power play in the league (26.8%).

The good news is the Leafs have taken the fewest minor penalties in the league, and that is why, in the big picture, they have given up the fifth fewest power-play goals despite not owning an elite penalty kill.
That said, in case you forgot what happened in the playoffs last year, the Leafs killed off only 66.7% of their penalties and it was a major factor in the seven-game series.

This is what a callup who doesn’t want to come out of the lineup looks like:


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Against Buffalo, Trevor Moore got right in on the forecheck, bodying Rasmus Ristolainen off the puck and setting up Petan for a goal in the slot. Ristolainen is 6’4, and weighs 215+; Moore is 5’10 and weighs 180+. He’s small but he’s physical, feisty, and certainly doesn’t shy away from the dirty areas.


At the end of the day, I think William Nylander will have to go back with Matthews. The two have been fantastic together the first two seasons of their careers and while Kapanen has had a nice season, he’s not the talent that Nylander is in terms of driving play and holding onto the puck in the offensive zone. That allows Matthews to do what he does best: Get open and bury scoring chances when he gets the puck. Against stronger teams, Matthews has struggled recently to make much of an impact.

I think you could quite easily convince me that Connor Brown should be the one coming out of the lineup when Nazem Kadri returns and that the fourth line should remain as is. This is primarily because Brown hasn’t made much of an impact lately after being bumped up the lineup. Going into the Calgary game, he had three points and 12 shots on net in 10 games and the lowest amount of ice time he saw in any of those games was 12:55. He’s good on the penalty kill and is an honest player, but his impact shift-to-shift is waning. Brown has five goals this season (including an empty netter). Ennis has 12 in 26 fewer games.

I think it’s really going to bite the team in the butt not having Jake Muzzin and Morgan Rielly together. They can’t possibly think that Rielly – Hainsey is a good idea against the Bruins’ top line in a seven-game playoff series. Where is the big picture thinking here?
 

TOGuy14

Registered User
Dec 30, 2010
12,061
3,571
Toronto
Trevor Moore should have stuck in the lineup a while ago.

For all the crap Babs talks about earning your spots sometimes he is very stubborn about keeping under-performing guys in the lineup at the expense of our hungry youth.
 
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