WASHINGTON – If you blinked during the Toronto Maple Leafs’ second-period power play, you might have been confused as to what you were watching.
There were stretches during that power play when the Washington Capitals’ penalty killers were willfully — and easily — throwing the puck back and forth in their own zone. The lack of urgency from the Leafs with an extra man should have been alarming.
Instead, that same lack of urgency was evident with all five of their power plays in an embarrassing 4-0 loss to the Capitals, making it the norm on the night. The Leafs generated a measly five shots with the man advantage and did not find the back of the net once.
The loss represents their worst power play outing all season; in only one other game, a 5-3 loss to the Boston Bruins on Nov. 11, have the Leafs had five power plays — but they did convert once that night.
“God-awful,” was Craig Berube’s opinion.
After Thursday’s loss, the Leafs power play sank to 14.1 percent on the season. Only the lowly Calgary Flames, who seem destined to compete for the first overall pick in next summer’s NHL Draft, have a worse power play.
With names like Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares among others on this roster, the power play can’t continue to perform as poorly as it has. Not after it fired at a 24.8 percent clip last season. Not with their playoff hopes on the line this year.
Because right now, among other things, the Leafs’ putrid power play is sinking their season. They sit 13th in the Eastern Conference based on points percentage.
The loss against the Capitals feels like a new low on the season for the Leafs.
After the Capitals jumped to a 2-0 lead, it wasn’t as if the Leafs lacked chances to get back into the game. Five power plays in a game are rare. But a team that does so little with that many chances is even rarer. The Leafs’ power play was stuck on the perimeter, unable to create anything close to a dangerous opportunity. The Capitals smothered the Leafs too easily. The puck stayed stagnant on the Leafs’ sticks.
“We’ve just got to simplify a little bit and just get (into) an attack mindset,” Nylander said of the power play.
The hockey gods seemed to be gifting the Leafs chances to push back against a Capitals team that easily handled them weeks earlier. The Leafs responded with no ideas and no execution.
And on the night, no hope for a comeback either. It’s starting to feel like hope for the Leafs to climb back into a playoff position is dying, too.
Now, zoom out and the atrocious power play isn’t the only issue hurting this team right now. But it is emblematic of how far this team has sunk, and why this Leafs season is starting to feel like a lost one: no persistence, no execution. And so far, no answers.
“(The Capitals) had way more urgency in their game, more passion in their game. That’s the difference,” Berube said.
How can the Leafs head coach explain that, considering the Capitals are second in their division and the Leafs aren’t even keeping their heads above water in the Eastern Conference?
“Ask those guys, not me,” Berube said, nodding to the Leafs dressing room.
‘Those guys’ had thoughts of their own.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson acknowledged his team must start playing more desperate than they have been.
“I totally agree with you,” Ekman-Larsson said of the Capitals looking more desperate than the Leafs. “That’s what we’re talking about, that’s what we want to do. But it’s one thing to talk about it, it’s another thing to do it. I think that’s the hard part right now, and that’s something we need to figure out.”
“We don’t have to be the best team in the world every single night, but we need everybody to compete, and we need everyone to just play good. Everybody just has to go out there and do their job and play good,” Matthews said. “The consistency, that’s been a big part of it — over 60 minutes throughout this whole year, it’s been tough to find games with just full consistency where each line is playing the right way, doing little things correctly.”
Desperate for a spark to the season, Berube has loaded up the top line with Matthews and Nylander. While they pushed back with important production late in the Leafs’ 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, those same two high-end offensive players have gone quiet beyond that win.
“Not even close,” Berube said when asked whether he saw enough from his top line.
Considering the Capitals hit multiple posts and crossbars, a 4-0 score almost feels flattering to the Leafs. The list of players in blue and white who put forward noticeable efforts was a short one: Nick Robertson, Troy Stecher and Dennis Hildeby. Hildeby’s second period was one of his best: he turned away all 12 of the Capitals shots and did so with typical poise.
Dennis Hildeby had an excellent second period against the Capitals. (Jamie Sabau / Getty Images)
But a massive piece of why Berube’s top players were so ineffective against the Capitals was the power play. Berube started the second unit during his first power-play opportunity, which feels like a not-insignificant sign to his top players.
“I thought the (second) unit did some good things, they had a couple opportunities and just, they misfired, (the puck) didn’t go in, they had some good chances. But our top unit didn’t execute, didn’t win any battles when they needed to, just couldn’t make plays,” Berube said.
Can the ugly power play be chalked up to a systems issue? Personnel? A potent mix of the two?
Either way, the status quo cannot continue.
Berube said after the game it “could be” time for a more extreme change. “That’s something we’ll definitely look at,” he said.
Teams with poor power plays don’t set themselves up for playoff spots. Last season, no team with a bottom-five power play made the playoffs, and only two teams in the bottom ten in power play percentage made the postseason.
Would the Leafs coaching staff consider throwing the power play units in a blender, demoting some of their (previous) top performers to the second unit? You can’t argue those top players deserve every opportunity they’re being continuously given. And if it feels like change for the sake of change, well, it also feels like the midway point of the season is fast approaching with no signs of power play positivity on the horizon either.
If a personnel move isn’t drastic enough, is there merit to changing how the power play is run? We’ve been here before, but assistant coach Marc Savard’s messaging doesn’t appear to be connecting with his players. Both power play units’ continued inability to gain the offensive zone — and then gain traction once they’re there — is disturbing.
Without a fix to the power play, and to the way the Leafs are approaching this season, a far more disturbing reality feels likely: the Leafs look unlikely to make up any ground in the playoff race.
After the loss, the gap between the Leafs and playoff-bound teams like the Capitals feels wider than ever.