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5 Takeaways: TOR 3-NYR 6

 

    

Ryan Reaves (New York Rangers, Twitter)

    Another frustrating night to be a Leafs fan, as Toronto blew a multi-goal lead for the fourth time in 5 games against the New York Rangers.
    Here are my 5 takeaways from another loss on this dispiriting road trip.

Matthews’ Streak Ends

    It’s been an incredible stretch for Auston Matthews, but his streak of 11 consecutive road games with a goal came to an end tonight.

    A somewhat controversial kicking motion call ended the Leafs’ hopes deep into the third period. 

    Other than the kick and a good chance at the end of the second period, Matthews had a rough go. He played with energy, but the usually silky American turned the puck over and lost some key face offs,  eventually ending the game with a 47% face off win percentage.

    This game really exposed just how important Matthews is to the Leafs’ cause and it shows why they need him to elevate his game come playoff time if they have any hope of advancing past the first round.


Ilya Mikheyev: the Bright Spot


    The Leafs are now 4-2-1 in 2022 and some concerning trends are starting to emerge. However, Ilya Mikheyev is not one of them.

    He led all skaters with an unbelievable 92% expected goals rate, scored his sixth goal in 7 games and overall just played with more heart than most of the Leafs’ forwards combined.

    “Cobra” was a trade candidate just a couple months ago, but he is now Toronto’s most valuable bottom-6 player.


Soft and Purposeless


    Those were the words that head coach Sheldon Keefe used to describe the performance from his team tonight. 

    For the fourth time in 5 games, the Leafs built up a multi-goal lead and threw it away with silly turnovers, a lack of concentration and an average power-play.

    Something has to change and fast, because this trend is becoming too dangerous to ignore. 

    A trade for a blue liner has gone from a nice option to an absolute necessity. Travis Dermott, Timothy Liljegren, Rasmus Sandin and especially Alex Biega were awful tonight. They were admittedly missing their shutdown pair, but Campbell’s form lately means he can’t bail those guys out like he could a few months ago. Speaking of Campbell...


The Campbell Dilemma


    Just two weeks ago, Campbell was third in the league in GSAx (goals saved above expected) with a whopping mark of 14.9. After a frustrating road trip where he has undoubtedly lost his best form put up a GAA of 4.50, he has fallen to seventh on the list with a mark of 12.9.
    The problem with the Leafs is that they need everything to go right to win games. At the start of the year, the offense wasn't clicking, but the goaltending was very good. In the middle of the season, the offense was on fire and Campbell was proving to be a Vezina Trophy candidate. Now the offense is at its' best form, but Campbell is struggling and the team is losing. 
    We knew that Campbell was going to have a patch like this, as he has been incredibly overworked. We know that his self-confidence is capable of spiraling at times, but let's just hope that he can get back to November form.

Poor Man Marking

    The Leafs have not been helping Campbell out, though. It was bad in St. Louis when Jordan Kyrou wreaked havoc from behind the goal line and seemed to always find an open guy at even strength.
    Somehow, it was worse tonight. Ryan Reaves was wide open on his first goal. Ryan Strome was wide open on the winning goal. Chris Kreider, who has scored 25 goals this season, most of them in front of the net, was wide open. Adam Fox, one of the league's most talented players, was wide open on his first goal. 
    It's becoming a major issue. Sure, recovery is an important facet of defense, but you shouldn't need to recover if you are guarding your man tightly. 
    This isn't a mental thing, so it can easily be fixed. Keefe needs to step up and stop this from spiraling out of control.

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