LEAFS TAKEAWAYS: On Mitch Marner, Chris Tanev and the Toronto power play

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Published Jan 11, 2025  •  4 minute read

Teddy Blueger of the Vancouver Canucks skates to check Chris Tanev of the Maple Leafs during the third period in an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on January 11, 2025. Photo by Claus Andersen /Getty Images

For the third time this season on Saturday night, the Maple Leafs failed to score a goal.

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On this occasion, the Leafs were beaten 3-0 by the Vancouver Canucks at Scotiabank Arena, an embarrassing result considering the Canucks visitors were delayed in traveling from Raleigh, N.C., and didn’t arrive at their Toronto hotel until the early afternoon on Saturday.

Our takeaways from the loss:

OPPOSING VIEWS

It’s OK, someone with the Leafs should tell Mitch Marner to acknowledge, after such a loss, that the team wasn’t good.

Following a game in which the Leafs gave up a goal in every period and didn’t come close to scoring on three power plays, what Marner had to say afterward raised eyebrows.

“I liked it,” Marner said of the Leafs’ effort level. “I thought we played well, I really did.

“The last couple of games (including a 6-3 loss in Carolina on Thursday), we’ve been giving up plays to teams that aren’t missing on them. I thought we were good, five-man tight in our zone, thought we went through the neutral zone as a unit.

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“When we didn’t do that, that’s when breakdowns happened and they had a lot of offence off it. That’s something we talked about, that we need to be better at. We’ll look at it going forward and fix it.”

That’s fine, but the idea that the Leafs’ effort level was acceptable is laughable. We can’t argue with much that Marner has done this season — he’s on pace for what would be a career-high 110 points — but failure to acknowledge, well, failure, tests the patience of the fan base.

Even though the Leafs are in first place in the Atlantic Division and, for the most part, have been sharp under coach Craig Berube, not publicly recognizing what everyone in the building saw, even when it’s bad only on occasion, isn’t right.

Yes, those were boos that were heard a couple of times in the third period. Those didn’t come because fans thought the effort was good enough.

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Veteran defenceman Chris Tanev is able to cut through the rhetoric, and did so again on Saturday.

“Not good enough,” Tanev said. “They outworked us, outcompeted us. That’s why they won.

“We’re not worried about them. We need to play our game better. That’s why we lost.

“It comes down to us being prepared to play and knowing we what we need to do as a team. When I say outworked, I don’t mean the effort’s not there, but we’re not connected as five, we’re not helping support each other and that’s where they took advantage of us and scored some goals.”

That kind of attitude needs to seep into all corners of the Leafs dressing room.

POWER OUTAGE

Another night of futility on the power play helped seal the Leafs’ fate.

On their three power plays, the Leafs had just four attempts and two shots on Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen.

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With the talent that the Leafs have on the No. 1 unit — Marner, captain Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly — the disconnect is alarming.

The Leafs have shown signs of life every so often with the man advantage, but not nearly with the kind of consistency that this group should have. That’s on the players and assistant coach Marc Savard.

At 18th on the power play in the National Hockey League, the Leafs are underachieving.

What needs to improve?

“Simplifying it,” Matthews said, using the common refrain. “We just have to get more pucks to the net.

“A lot of movement, kind of a lot of nothing going on, I guess.”

Where is it lacking for Berube?

“Getting opportunities,” Berube said. “Shooting the puck, moving it quick, crisp pace, attacking, shooting at the net, those types of things.

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“We had three power plays, we didn’t get anything going, which could have given us momentum in the game.”

The Leafs didn’t take a penalty, but were scored on during a delayed call on David Kampf.

NO SHOOTING GALLERY

Berube pointed out that the Canucks got in the way of Leafs shots — Vancouver had 20 blocks — but the lack urgency came through in the Leafs’ decision-making.

“They clogged it up pretty good, I have to give them credit for that,” Berube said. “They did a good job of protecting the middle of the ice, but we have to find a way to generate shots and get them through, and have more traffic there.

“I didn’t think we won any of the rebound battles. There were times there were missed bounces that didn’t go our way. That’s basically what the game boiled down to.”

The Leafs held the Canucks to 16 shots on goal at five-on-five. Commendable, for sure. But registering just 18 at five-on-five against a team that played the night before and had travel issues should bother the Leafs through their scheduled day off on Sunday.

“As a group, we’ve been talking about trying to shoot more,” Rielly said. “I think our attempts earlier in the year were higher than they are now, so we want to get back to having a shooting mentality.”

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