The Leafs have the best penalty kill in hockey and a losing record
Toronto kills 96.4% of its penalties and still sits at 3-4-2 after three straight losses, with San Jose in town tonight.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have the best penalty kill in the NHL. They also have a losing record. That's like having the best brakes on a car with no engine. Very safe. Going nowhere.
Look, I'm a Boston guy. Watching the Leafs lose is a civic duty, like shoveling the sidewalk. But this one needs an explanation, because the numbers are weird.
The number that should scare Toronto
Toronto is killing 96.4% of its penalties, first in the league, per NHL data. The power play is clicking at 26.7%, seventh. Special teams are fine. Better than fine. And the Leafs are 3-4-2 with three straight losses and four losses in five games.
So when the Leafs are at full strength, five on five, they're getting beat. That's the whole game, kid. The power play is the dessert. Toronto keeps skipping dinner.
Saturday was the whole season in one night
The Islanders came into Scotiabank and won 4-1. Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves. Sergei Bobrovsky made 16 saves on 19 shots at the other end. Bo Horvat scored the winner and set up Simon Holmstrom, who scored twice, once into an empty net. Toronto's only goal was a Colton Sissons tip.
Grade: D. Not an F. The F-minus is reserved, and the Leafs know what for.
The goaltending isn't helping
Bobrovsky is 1-3-2 with an .891 save percentage. Anthony Stolarz is at .875. As a team, Toronto is stopping .886 of the shots it faces, 21st in the league by our count.
You can kill every penalty in Ontario and still lose if the five-on-five pucks keep finding the net. Buddy, I'm begging you, stop one in the second period. Just one. For the city.
Kept off the sheet
Morgan Rielly: no goals in nine games, pointless in his last three, 19.2 minutes a night. That's a lot of ice time to spend sightseeing.
To be fair to the top of the lineup, Auston Matthews has 13 points and William Nylander has 12. The stars are scoring. The rest of the room is watching them do it.
The coach has a theory
Jim Hiller says the forwards keep hanging the defense out to dry with turnovers and bad tracking. "We just have to help them out a little bit," he said. Asked if they'd add a defenseman, he said, "Not my job, first of all."
That's the most honest thing a Leafs coach has said since 1967. Also the most worrying.
It gets harder from here. John Tavares is out week-to-week, and so is Chris Tanev. That's two veterans gone from a lineup that already can't win five on five.
Bruins tax
In Boston, a 3-4-2 start with the best PK in hockey gets you a talk-radio segment called "Is It Time To Panic." In Toronto, it gets you a parade permit application, just in case.
My call: San Jose comes in tonight, and the Leafs win it, because San Jose's goalies are stopping .877 by our count, which is somehow worse. Then everybody in Toronto decides the slump is over. It isn't. Five on five is still broken until Bobrovsky gets back above .900.
I said what I said.
