The Toronto Maple Leafs were fighting an uphill battle on Saturday in the second half of a back-to-back dealing with the sudden absence of Auston Matthews — but those factors don’t totally account for their chaotic mess of a loss to the New York Islanders . William Nylander came to play, producing two goals for the second time in three games, but not many other Maple Leafs can be proud of their performance in the 6-3 defeat. Advertisement The team conceded two goals in the first five minutes of the game, leading to an early timeout for Craig Berube, but the wake-up call didn’t move the needle much.
Berube continually shuffled his forward lines and defence pairs, but no one could drive play consistently, and the Maple Leafs were out-attempted 68-48 at five-on-five, with New York earning 60.78 percent of the expected goals. Joseph Woll ’s unimpressive evening didn’t help, but Toronto was brutal in the neutral zone, allowing the Islanders to produce quick-strike offence with impunity.
The mitigating circumstances elevate the grade slightly, but we can’t go above a C-. Unit grades Nylander opened the game on this line, but Berube put Marner in at the start of the second period, hoping for a spark. That move may have seemed odd considering Pacioretty-Tavares-Nylander’s proof of concept, but that group had been out-attempted 9-1 in the first.
It just so happened that one attempt was a top-shelf backhand that kept Toronto in the game early. WILLIAM NYLANDER 🚨 22 4 8.
