Maple Leafs report cards: Unexceptional but patient effort holds off Carolina comeback

By / / Sports / 6 minutes of reading


While the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday wasn’t electric from an entertainment standpoint, it was the kind of effort Craig Berube likely appreciated.

The Maple Leafs got off to a slow start in the first period, but prevented Carolina’s high-volume shooting attack from converting — with a little help from a sturdy Joseph Woll — and Pontus Holmberg scored the opening goal on one of Toronto’s few offensive opportunities.

From there, Toronto took charge in the second period, outshooting the Hurricanes 8-2 and adding another goal to gain a 2-0 lead. Carolina turned up the heat in the third, but their comeback efforts were snuffed out by a pair of goals from the Maple Leafs’ second line.

It was a relatively low-event game where the Maple Leafs lost the possession battle, but Toronto was patient and opportunistic, trusting in its finishing, goaltending and in-zone defending to come through. The win was far from perfect, but considering the difficulty of the assignment on the second leg of a back-to-back with much of the blue line missing, it gets an A-.

Unit grades

L1 (Matthew Knies — Auston Matthews — Mitch Marner): B

The first line didn’t consistently apply offensive pressure, but it wasn’t buried as often as some of the other units — and it produced one moment of brilliance.

Marner had a quiet effort and his quest for 100 points continues, but the line’s timely goal helped Toronto take control of the game at a moment where it seemed the Maple Leafs were lucky to be ahead 1-0.

L2 (Max Domi — John Tavares — William Nylander): A-

On a shift-to-shift basis, this trio didn’t always generate much, but ultimately they produced two five-on-five goals and did not concede one.

While there’s plenty of room for skepticism about the viability of any Domi-Nylander pairing from a defensive responsibility basis, this group’s firepower is appealing.

It will be intriguing to see if this trio gets any run during the playoffs.

L3 (Bobby McMann — Pontus Holmberg — Nick Robertson): B+

During a game that Carolina often controlled at five-on-five, this line drove the play commendably. The Maple Leafs out-attempted the Hurricanes 14-6 and outshot them 7-2 in the third line’s minutes.

This group also delivered the first goal of the game at a time when it seemed like the Maple Leafs were on the back foot.

This trio is a bit odd on a conceptual level as it seems a bit low on passing skill and doesn’t have a coherent offence-defence orientation, but the results were solid on Sunday.

L4 (Calle Järnkrok — Scott Laughton — Steven Lorentz): C-

In the first 18 minutes of Sunday’s game, this line had the Maple Leafs’ only shot on net and arguably their best chance.

The trio could not sustain its early momentum, though, and by the end of the evening they’d been thoroughly caved in, getting out-attempted 17-3 at five-on-five.

D1 (Simon Benoit — Chris Tanev): C

Benoit and Tanev were the closest thing Craig Berube had to a shutdown pair on Sunday with neither Jake McCabe nor Oliver Ekman-Larsson available.

The pair avoided having to fish the puck out of their net and chipped in a bit on offence, with Benoit assisting on the Nylander goal. That sounds like a stellar day of work, but the pair undeniably spent too long running around their defensive zone, and neither had a Corsi above 21.05 percent.

The double minor on Tanev in the third also gave the Hurricanes an opportunity to get back into the game, which they took.

D2 (Morgan Rielly — Philippe Myers): A

Rielly has been an offensive difference-maker less frequently than expected this season, but he met that standard on Sunday. The veteran produced three assists, including a clever and well-executed setup on the Matthews one-timer in the second. It was Rielly’s fifth multi-point game of the season.

Myers had less of a standout game, but he gave Toronto 15:02 with a plus-two, and the minor penalty he took was on the soft side.

D3 (Dakota Mermis —Brandon Carlo): B+

Considering Mermis came into Sunday with just one NHL game played this season, he didn’t look out of place against Carolina. While he wasn’t a world-beater by any means, he looked competent in his own zone and his best moment came when he blocked a one-timer in the first period.

Meanwhile, Carlo skated a team-leading 22:01 and led Toronto defencemen with three hits. He also put up his third point since joining the Maple Leafs via a secondary assist and won some key physical battles in the defensive zone.

Power play: D

Both of Toronto’s power-play opportunities were similarly ineffective. The first unit took a minute to set up in each case and wasn’t able to create quality opportunities afterwards.

Those four minutes resulted in just two long-range shots on net.

Penalty kill: C-

The Maple Leafs were only asked to kill one penalty in the first two periods, but they made the Hurricanes power-play unit look toothless. Carolina managed just two attempts and didn’t put either of them on net.

In the third, the team was called upon to bleed four minutes off the clock and couldn’t get the job done despite some strong saves by Woll and a Laughton short-handed breakaway.

The PK unit came close to weathering the storm, but ultimately asked too much of the goaltender, allowing seven shots in 3:42.

Goaltending (Joseph Woll): A-

Considering Woll faced a relatively tame shot total (26), it would be tough to claim he produced a Herculean effort, but it’s tough to complain about a one-goal game.

When Carolina was dominating in the first period, Woll could’ve easily allowed the Maple Leafs to fall into a hole, but he stood tall.

Woll finally cracked at the very end of a four-minute penalty kill midway through the third period as he couldn’t quite get his glove on a Sebastian Aho shot.

Woll has allowed just five goals in his last three starts, producing a .946 save percentage in that time.

Game score

Single HockeyStatCards com 20

What’s next?

The Maple Leafs head to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on TSN.

(Photo of Mitch Marner: James Guillory / Imagn Images)





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