TORONTO — Auston Matthews exploded for his third hat trick of this young season, has now ripped 11 goals in 11 games, and got one lady so excited, she tossed her brassiere on the ice like she was at Drake concert!
So… the Toronto Maple Leafs won?
William Nylander kept his incredible season-starting point streak rolling, breaking his own franchise record again, and the home team’s power-play was buzzing like an army barber!
OK, sweet. The Leafs totally got the two points, right?
Mitch Marner piled up a season-high four points, extended his point streak to six games and swished every shot he launched at the net!
Whew, must’ve been a victory for the boys in Blue and White. Losing skid over?
Uh, not so fast.
Toronto’s superstars flashed their brilliance and drummed up with four goals Saturday at Scotiabank Arena, but in terms of team success, it amounted to nothing more than cookie-gobbling and stats-padding.
Because the bottom fell out of this top-heavy hockey team in a 6-4 home loss to the tired Buffalo Sabres, one of a handful of teams mushed with the Maple Leafs (5-4-2) in the stuffy middle of the Atlantic Division standings.
An eighth of the 2023-24 season is complete, and while the Maple Leafs’ well-compensated core of star performers has delivered on the scoreboard, hockey stubbornly remains a team sport.
So, while Matthews is on pace for 82 goals, and Marner could get his 100 points, and John Tavares could hit 80 points for a sixth time, and Nylander could make his targeted $10 million, this whole operation is at risk of being slew-footed by its supporting cast.
Matthews and Marner have scored all six of the Leafs’ past six goals.
Of the 32 goals scored Leafs forwards this season, the “Core Four” has scored 26 of them (81.25 per cent).
It’s been two weeks and counting since a bottom-six Leafs forward has lit the lamp.
Max Domi is still searching for his first goal. Tyler Bertuzzi is searching for his first at even-strength.
If you add offensive defenceman John Klingberg and fourth-liner Ryan Reaves into the accounting, new GM Brad Treliving allotted a total of $14 million in cap space during free agency to four players who have yielded zero even-strength goals.
Yikes.
But they aren’t the only ones not chipping in offence.
“Yeah, I’m concerned, for sure,” said coach Sheldon Keefe, after watching his group lose its fourth straight.
“[Matthew] Knies is new to the league, hasn’t found his stride offensively. [David Kämpf] is a guy that’s gonna give you everything he has, but that’s not his primary thing. Domi’s a guy, obviously, we expect more out of, his contribution offensively.
“Yeah, it’s a lot of heavy lifting for our top guys right now, for sure.”
Marner knows better than to point fingers. He needs to save his energy for carrying the weight.
“Everyone wants to execute out here on the ice, and everyone wants to produce,” Marner said. “You just want to stay patient and make sure everyone knows that.
“Stay positive and obviously you’re gonna get your looks eventually. Just make sure when you do get them, bear down. And everyone wants to put them in, so that’s what they’re trying to do. It just hasn’t happened.”
OK.
So, what’s going on here?
Because it’s not crummy puck luck.
Did the GM bring in the wrong personnel? Is the head coach not arranging the pieces correctly? Do the mercenary players-for-hire simply need more time to find their niche?
So far, the sum is worse than the parts. And the parts are getting frustrated or demoted or misused or all the above.
The Leafs have lost more games than they’ve won and hold minus-1 goal differential.
“It’s got to start with hard work and defence. I mean, it’s a cliché, but we scored enough goals to win tonight, obviously,” Mark Giordano said. “When things aren’t going offensively, you got to contribute in other ways. So, it’s on all of us.
“Everyone in our division is playing well. It’s gonna be a battle this year to get points every night in our division. So, these ones sting. These are big games. Doesn’t matter what time of year it is.”
Prior to puck drop, Keefe tried to use the injuries to defencemen Timothy Liljegren (LTIR) and Jake McCabe (likely to practise Sunday) as a rallying call.
Yet callup Max Lajoie skated all of 4:54 before catching a minus and getting stapled to the bench, essentially leaving the Leafs to lose another game with five blueliners.
Keefe has no trust right now in the depths of the forwards or the defence, and the ice times speak louder than the quotes.
“The third period was the most exhausted I’ve seen a core defensively in my time in this league,” Keefe said. “It was just too much for our D-men.”
And the Sabres were too big a task for even some on-fire superstars to overcome.
Or, as Keefe puts it: “We got a bunch of guys that we need to get playing better.”
Fox’s Fast Five
• After temporarily benching and demoting Bertuzzi in Boston Thursday, Keefe tried the carrot instead of the stick Saturday, bumping him back up to John Tavares’s line and pumping the winger up to the media.
“He happened to make the wrong mistake at the wrong time,” Keefe softened, after a day’s rest. “Bert’s a very important player for us, and will be a very important player for us, and will come through. The harder this thing gets, the better Bert’s gonna be.”
Bertuzzi owned his subpar play when he met the cameras: “Just wasn’t good enough. Need to be better. Personally, I gotta be better. No excuses.”
What about shaking his head and laughing from the bench at Brad Marchand after the Timothy Liljegren injury, though?
“People can perceive that however they want,” Bertuzzi replied. “I’m not going to explain myself.”
• The Maple Leafs ravaged tired opponents last season, going a league-best 11-1-0 when catching teams on the second half of a back-to-back.
They caught a very tired Sabres group, playing its second game in two nights and third in three cities over four nights — and still failed to take advantage at home.
• Nylander’s season-starting point streak just keeps truckin’. He’s now found a way onto the scoresheet for 11 games and counting, extending his Maple Leafs record and tying Jesper Bratt (2022-23) for the third-best season-starting point streak by any Swedish player.
Mats Sundin holds that record. The big Swede had a point in each of his first 30(!) games for the Quebec Nordiques in 1992-93.
• Tage Thompson has joined the short list of “Guys I’d Totally Pay to Watch Play Hockey Live.”
The centre’s unassisted shorthanded goal was a beautiful mix of skill and force, to be sure. But it’s incredible to see how he’s learned to use his massive frame to his advantage with and without the puck. And, boy, can he fire the thing. Game-high seven shots and 12 attempts on Saturday.
Go see him.
• Sabres rookie Ryan Johnson registered a point in his NHL debut, an assist on Jeff Skinner’s slapshot goal. Johnson’s dad, Craig, played 10 games for the Leafs back in 2003-04.
Like father, like son: Both wore No. 33 in this building.
