Brophy on Leafs: Deja vu all over again
Posted March 12, 2012 9:08 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Another decent effort. Another loss. Another goal-less game.
And it is looking very much like another year without the playoffs. If the Toronto Maple Leafs were going to overcome the odds and make it to the post-season for the first time in seven seasons, getting a victory against the Capitals in Washington Sunday was crucial.
So, losing 2-0 and being shut out for the second straight game is the last thing the Leafs needed.
“We played well defensively and they played well defensively,” said Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. “But we made a couple of mistakes that cost us. At the end of the day we are making a few mistakes that are costing us goals against and in tight games those swing momentum.”
The Maple Leafs have definitely placed a greater emphasis on defence in the five games under new coach Randy Carlyle, but suddenly they cannot score.
Make it 157 minutes and 24 seconds since the Leafs last scored a goal — at 7:36 of the second period by defenceman Carl Gunnarsson in a 3-2 loss to the Penguins in Pittsburgh Wednesday. The Leafs then lost 1-0 in a shootout against the Philadelphia Flyers at home Saturday night.
Two games, no goals. That’s what happens sometimes when you undergo a change in philosophy. Ex-coach Ron Wilson endorsed a more wide-open speed game that could be described as high-risk, high-return when executed properly. Unfortunately the Leafs didn’t get the goaltending required to succeed at that style this season. The last two games under Carlyle have been low-risk, no return.
Under Carlyle, the goaltending has been less of an issue. Jonas Gustavsson has played all five and the Leafs have allowed 11 goals. However, they have scored just nine. The Leafs have been in every game since the coaching change.
Carlyle is on a mission to make the Maple Leafs more defensively responsible and he isn’t about to change things regardless of the results of an individual game. He knows the effort he puts into getting his players to think defensively could pay dividends next season.
“Are we sacrificing risk hockey for offence?” Carlyle asked. “Yes, I would agree with that. I believe the teams that play better defence, usually the offence comes around. We’re starving for offence now and we need a bounce to go our way. It’s not as though we aren’t creating quality scoring chances. We are creating them and we’re not giving up as many quality scoring chances. We give up quality scoring chances because of the mistakes we make with the puck and that is the mental part of the game.”
The loss is Toronto’s 10th in the past 11 games. Is it any wonder they have sunk to 12th place in the Eastern Conference and now are more likely to get a lottery pick in the 2012 NHL entry draft than a playoff spot?
Even though he wants his players concentrating on keeping pucks out of the net, Carlyle didn’t let the offence off the hook.
“I guess when you don’t score a goal in two games I guess you’d have to agree it is tough sledding on the offensive side (of the game),” Carlyle said. “Tonight was a different type of game than last night. I thought it was really almost a chess match back and forth … five guys up and then five guys back. We make a mistake early on the first power play we had and it set us back on our heels. I thought we finally got our game going in the second period when we started to get some offensive zone time and we created, but we just couldn’t find a way to get the one puck across the line to give us a ray of hope and some light at the end of the tunnel.”
The mistake on the power play was a gaffe by rookie defenceman Jake Gardiner who, as the Leafs often do, made a routine drop pass to a charging forward — in this case, Phil Kessel — but the play was read by Washington’s Brooks Laich who intercepted the feed and walked in to score his third shorthanded goal of the season. Turned out to be the game-winner.
Gardiner was making no excuses after the game.
“You have to move on after that,” he said. “It was a mistake and cost us a goal.”
Of course one factor affecting the Leafs’ ability to score is the absence of left winger Joffrey Lupul who separated his shoulder and will be out for a month. There is no question the Leafs miss his touch around the net, but typically, Carlyle opted to take the high road when asked about what difference it makes to have his team’s second leading scorer out of the lineup.
“I think it is a question of other people stepping to the forefront,” Carlyle said. “When injuries happen there are other people who get more opportunity. They have to seize that opportunity. When you put people in offensive situations it’s time for them to deliver.”
Added rookie right winger Matt Frattin: “I think we’re getting our chances, but they just aren’t going in. Lupes is obviously a really good player who brings a lot of offence to our team, and with him out, it is unfortunate, but we have to start pulling our weight.”
With each passing defeat it is becoming obvious anything the Leafs accomplish between now and the end of the regular season will money in the bank — for next year.
