After the All-Star break, the Toronto Maple Leafs are 8-2-0. William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and Auston Matthews are three of the league’s top five scorers in those ten games.
Colorado made a spectacular comeback to defeat the Leafs 5-3 when they played them last January. After Tyler Bertuzzi scored his third career hat trick in Ball Arena Friday night, another comeback was inevitable.
Is it their own fate or the result of the Bertuzzi family’s curse?
The Avs were crippled by a late penalty from Mikko Rantanen, and their penalty kill found it difficult to stop the hottest powerplay in the NHL at the moment.
Colorado was defeated 4-3.
“We’re 3-5-1 right now, which is our worst quarter of the year so far,” stated Jared Bednar. It’s all about the process; that’s the kind of heat we’re trying to apply to our men. In addition, we are competing for home ice and the division, which is now beginning to matter. It is annoying when you play well and with intensity yet fail to score any points.
The Special Teams’ Dual Nature
Colorado made the most of their one powerplay, but Toronto’s man advantage outweighed their penalty kill. The Leafs had a two-for-two record.
On the one hand, MacKinnon eased any worries early in the game by extending his home-point run. Less than a minute into the match, a delay in the game call gave the Avs a man-advantage.
Colorado did a good job at moving the puck. The play continued because of Jonathan Drouin’s fast readings in his role as the rover. They were able to cycle the puck and regroup thanks to Cale Makar’s excellent keeping. Eventually, Makar discovered Nathan MacKinnon in the left circle after following the blue line. In order to tap in, MacKinnon threw a little feed to Artturi Lehkonen near the net-front.
Lehkonen opened the score in his 500th career game and scored his eighth goal of the year. After being off the scoreboard for seven games, Makar also returned to the record books, tying Tyson Barrie’s record for the most points ever scored by a defenseman in Avs/Nordiques history.
MacKinnon’s three-point shooting evening enhanced his home record even more, as he assisted Andrew Cogliano and Mikko Rantanen in the game’s latter stages.
This season, Nathan MacKinnon is averaging more than two points per game when playing at home. Connor McDavid, Mario Lemieux, and Jaromir Jagr are the only three players in the last 30 years to have concluded a season averaging at least two points per game at home.
However, over the last ten games, Toronto’s powerplay—which stands at an incredible 53.9%—has been the best in the league.
Ross Colton’s interference call in the first was not to Bednar’s liking, and Rantanen’s game delay in the third was impossible to justify as anything other than an expensive error.
Moose-Sized Error
“We discussed it. You can’t offer them too many chances, according to Bednar. “I thought we played really well, and it ended up being the difference in the hockey game.”
Rantanen unintentionally flew the puck into the stands from his own end while attempting to clear the ice.
After the game, Rantanen was also harsh on himself. He bemoaned, “There’s no rush on that play.”
Toronto executed their powerplay with deadly speed and strategy. It wasn’t as though Alexandar Georgiev was given free reign to fire away after the penalty kill. Two of the three shots he faced found the target; they were all high-risk chances right in front of him.
Aside from that, Rantanen had the third-best Corsi-for-percentage (71.43) of all players at even strength for the entire evening. He also tied the game early in the third period with a big goal.
Running across the slot, MacKinnon passed Rantanen a no-look pass out high. Rantanen picked his corner of the net and took his time choosing a shot. His wrister passed through multiple bodies.
It was his 30th goal of the year and his first in four games. It was a fitting response to some recent criticisms of taking the risk. It is among his most lethal weapons.
He admitted, “I think I’ve been looking to pass first—maybe too much lately.” “Trying to go forward and attack more, like tonight.”
With nine total attempts and three shots on goal, Rantanen actually finished with the most shot attempts of any player.
There was a noticeable improvement because in previous contests, he chose to postpone too much, which resulted in a considerably lower number.
His third period slip-up was painful because he was more focused, and all that hard work was undone by a little slip-up.
I can state with confidence that nobody is more furious with Mikko Rantanen than Mikko Rantanen, since he was so frustrated with himself after the game.
Ineffective Puck Handling
That wasn’t the only bad choice made by Rantanen. The Leafs took their first lead of the game and turned the course of the match when Toronto scored two goals in the second period.
The handling of the puck was an issue for two periods. Toronto held the goal advantage and led in shots, while Colorado had superior quality opportunities and the advantage in possession. Unexpectedly, the Avs gave up twelve points in the first 40 minutes, which cost them dearly.
Toronto, on the other hand, only had two (finally finishing with three). Because the Leafs played aggressive man-on-man, they also forced turnovers, which contributed to some of the giveaways. The Leafs took advantage of a weakness in Colorado’s puck carriers.
On pucks, the Avs are often stronger. Competent teams will seize on any flaw.
“That one probably needs to be saved.”
Late in the second period, Toronto scored the goal that gave them their first lead of the match.
Despite a fight between Logan O’Connor and Makar around the boards, Toronto managed to steal the puck. Marner lifted the ball high and deflected a long-range attempt past Georgiev. It would have been fantastic if Georgiev had seen more of that puck, but Matthew Knies served as a bit of a screen, and the point isn’t usually Marner’s style.
“That objective should also be restored,” Bednar remarked. “He needs to make a save on that one, as he fails to deflect the shot from the point.”
To Colorado’s credit, the Avs guarded the home court rather effectively in five-on-five play, especially in comparison. As a result, many of the Leafs’ opportunities came from the outside and out high, which is a good problem to have.
In a mistake-filled game, Georgiev’s failure to keep his eyes on the ball at a distance proved to be another costly error.
Bednar said, “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot.”
What is happening?
After the All-Star break, the Avs had a record of 3-5-2 after ten games. That’s 0.400 hockey, which is by no means up to their level. On January 15th, Val Nichushkin joined the Player Assistance program, which meant Colorado lost a significant piece of the puzzle.
The Avs are 8-7-2 without him, but they have also battled with their penalty kill (26th in the league) and powerplay (18.9%).
Although Colorado has battled over this final part for other reasons than him, he is sincerely missed. When that day arrives, his reappearance will have a significant effect.
Several events have transpired concurrently to put the AVS under even more pressure: After the interval, Georgiev’s save percentage was 0.900, but his goals-against-average was more than three goals. Georgiev’s save percentage shows that he has made some saves along the way, but winning every game with three goal demands has been difficult because the top pair and top line have been struggling to score goals, especially during that road trip.
Something has to give on this end.
When you take into account Colorado’s depth limitations—which have caused Miles Wood, O’Connor, and Cogliano to miss recent games—it becomes understandable why the Avs have had difficulty in February.
They haven’t been able to rely on reliable secondary scoring, Makar has been struggling, and the top line—especially Rantanen—has had some growing pains. Their goaltending hasn’t been poor, but it hasn’t been outstanding either, and there hasn’t been a safety net to help the best players return to their best without much difficulty.
