Petr Mrazek; what on earth are you doing? (Sportsnet)
Despite the loss, a hero was born tonight in Erik Kallgren. Brutal officiating and a seemingly insurmountable 4-1 deficit ruined the young goaltender's debut, but the Swedish rookie proved that he can take the reins on a temporary basis.
Here are my 5 takeaways from an exciting game against the league's hottest team. Still feels weird to say.
1. Shambolic Performance from Mrazek
I am not exaggerating when I say that Petr Mrazek put forth one of the worst goaltending performances of the season this season against the Yotes.
On an expensive 3-year, $3.8 million AAV deal, Mrazek has been a bit of disaster with the Leafs. His 3.28 GAA is 0.59 goals against worse than expected. He concedes way too many brutal rebounds, as evidenced by his poor 6.68 puck freezes below expected. However, any Leafs fan can tell you that his brutal positioning is the biggest issue with Mrazek's game.
For the first three goals, he wasn't even in his crease. The first goal was a truly atrocious rebound that he put directly into the path of Alex Galchenyuk. The second goal was embarrassing, as he had to crawl across the middle of the ice to try to block Jakob Chychrun's weak shot. The third was also infuriating, as Mrazek was simply standing up beside his net while a scrum ensued in the crease. I can forgive him for Arizona's fourth as it was a great shot by Christian Fischer, but as a whole, it was a disgraceful performance from the Czech.
Jack Campbell is out for the next two weeks with a rib injury. That means that Mrazek is probably going to be getting the lion's share of the starts for the rest of March. Considering the Leafs have a brutal schedule that includes 9 games in the last 18 days, this could get ugly quickly. On the bright side, this rib injury was reportedly affecting his play, so hopefully when he comes back, we'll see a version of Campbell closer to the one we witnessed in November.
He was clearly outplayed by Erik Kallgren, a 25-year old AHL goalie making his first ever start for the Leafs. That is unacceptable for somebody who will make $11.5 million on this contract. This certainly raised the question that Mrazek may not even get the starting role now that Jack Campbell is out injured. The Leafs have a simple match (on paper, at least) against the Buffalo Sabres for the Heritage Classic on Saturday. It's increasingly hard to believe that Sheldon Keefe will willingly play Petr Mrazek in that game.
It was awful and he cost the team a point tonight.
2. The Worst Officiated Sport in the World
In the 62 minutes that this game wore on for, there was only one power play. Even then, it was due to a failed coach's challenge by Sheldon Keefe and not an actual penalty. From both sides, there should have been many more penalties given. Losing to the Arizona Coyotes is unacceptable for the Leafs, but let's not forget that their greatest strength is their special teams. It's obvious that they will find less success when they spend more time at even strength.
So, it made me tear out my hair every time I saw Michael Bunting or John Tavares get hauled down to the ground. The Leafs should have had at least 3 or 4 penalties tonight, which like getting a good performance from Mrazek, would have changed the outcome of the game. In fact, here's a stat that will blow your mind.
Admittedly, it's tacky to blame losses on refs, but this has been such a common theme in the NHL this season. The Leafs' big 4 of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander has drawn just 74 penalty minutes combined this entire season. For context, Connor McDavid alone has drawn 84 penalty minutes. That's just unacceptable by the officials, but maybe it will prepare the Leafs for the playoffs when literally nothing gets called.
However, it's one thing to miss calls that could lead to power plays. It's another to miss a hooking call that leads to an odd-man rush that DECIDES THE ENTIRE GAME. Ugggggghhhhhhhh.
On Arizona's OT winner, Auston Matthews was held back by Jakob Chychrun, which prevented him from being able to get back and provide support to Morgan Rielly. A referee was literally right in front of the play and he completely ignored the hold. It was a stunning missed call that very possibly lost the Leafs the game.
I don't like blaming losses on the referees; this is only the second time I've done it all season. However, when one missed call leads to a 2-on-1 chance in overtime, I draw the line. Do better, NHL. This garbage can't keep happening.
3. Nick Robertson Makes Dubas' Job Easy
In my last takeaways, I mentioned that in my ideal Leafs forward group, they pursue another external left wing option. I did leave the caveat that Nick Robertson could convince me that he deserves a shot on the final roster. Well, all it took was one game.
Robertson was a bit inaccurate, but his youthful energy and effortless fit into Keefe's cycle-heavy system makes him a prime candidate to play in the lineup come playoff time. I can envision a roster that looks like this:
Bunting-Matthews-Marner Bunting-Matthews-Marner
Robertson-Tavares-Nylander OR Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander
Engvall-Kampf-Mikheyev Engvall-Kampf-Mikheyev
Kase-Kerfoot-Simmonds Robertson-Spezza-Kase
Whatever way you frame it, that's a darn good forward corps. Robertson has taken like a duck to water in this Leafs' roster and this should be exciting news for GM Kyle Dubas.
This allows Dubas to focus on other issues (namely another defenseman for the top-4 and probably a solution to the goaltending dilemma). Funnily enough, I think the goaltending might be even more important now.
Not to say that the Leafs shouldn't still be chasing after players like Carson Soucy, Josh Manson, Dylan DeMelo or somebody in that vein. If Dubas has a chance to add to the D-corps, he should take it. But, in recent weeks, Timothy Liljegren, Travis Dermott, Ilya Lyubushkin and Justin Holl have been proving that they are all decent depth defensemen. I wonder what the Leafs ideal corps looks like now.
Rielly-Brodie Rielly-Lyubushkin Rielly-Liljegren
Muzzin-Holl OR Muzzin-Manson? Soucy? OR Muzzin-Sandin
Sandin-Lyubushkin Sandin-Brodie Brodie-Holl
There are a lot of options. Frankly, I'd be looking to use the Leafs cap space for a player like G Anton Forsberg or G Anthony Stolarz. These are two cheap options that could take on the backup role to more effect than Petr Mrazek. Forsberg is an especially enticing option.
He's been excellent for the Ottawa Senators this year. On a pretty leaky defensive team, Forsberg has saved 10 goals above expected with a .921 SV% and a 2.69 GAA, 0.41 goals better than expected. He's an unrestricted free agent, so he could probably be acquired for a mid-range pick or a B prospect. He'd give me a bit more certainty than Mrazek as a backup option.
Whatever route Dubas decides to pursue, Robertson has helped him make the decision a bit easier.
4. Matthews More Motivated than Ever
After the Leafs' first-round series loss to the Montreal Canadiens last season, there were accusations that Auston Matthews didn't care enough. His emotionless interviews suggested as much. However, Matthews is showing that he cares as much as even the most devoted fan. His reaction on the missed call in OT was something I have never seen from the center. He went absolutely ballistic, one of the more blatant showcases of emotion I've ever seen from Matthews.
Throughout the game, though he could do nothing about Mrazek's horror show, he looked to take the game in his own hands. He dispossessed Coyotes players of the puck so easily and created offense effortlessly. His smooth dangle on the third goal was a work of art and it continued his utterly ridiculous goal-scoring drought.
Maybe nothing is different in this Leafs team. Perhaps they are the same team that we've seen blow leads and fail to advance to the second round. However, I personally am seeing a team that truly cares about winning. Even when they were down 4-1 to one of the league's worst teams, the body language was more determined than resigned.
I think this team is done with the losing. They are ready to break through. They simply need the personnel to do it.
5. Coyotes=Lethal Offense?
Out of nowhere, Andre Tourigny's Arizona Coyotes team is on an absolute heater. They've won 4 in a row, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 24-10. They have wins over the Colorado Avalanche and the Toronto Maple Leafs over that stretch. The Coyotes have climbed out of the cellar and are no longer even the worst team in the Western Conference.
A band of random players are joining together and having fun playing hockey. Nick Schmaltz has 7 goals and 14 points in his last 4 games. Clayton Keller has 3 goals and 9 points in that span. Jakob Chychrun has 5 goals and 10 points in his last 6. Nick Ritchie (remember him?) has 5 points in 6 games as a Coyote.
This is how a rebuild should work. Though the Coyotes have had some bad news this year with the whole arena fiasco, but there is no doubt that they are currently icing a very good team that will certainly not be last place in my power rankings this week.
ALL STATS COURTESY OF MONEYPUCK AND NATURAL STAT TRICK
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