Power outage: Leafs' power-play woes cost them in Game 5
The Toronto Maple Leafs had the NHL's second-best power play throughout the regular season, but it was their inability to generate any sort of offense with the man advantage that cost them a crucial Game 5 tilt with the Washington Capitals on Friday night.
The Leafs went 0-for-4 on the power play, failing to take advantage of the Capitals' undisciplined penalties. They didn't just fail to score while up a man, they weren't able to generate much pressure, either.
| Power play | Shots attempted | Shots on goal |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 0 | 0 |
| 2nd | 1 | 0 |
| 3rd | 5 | 2 |
| 4th | 5 | 2 |
Toronto only managed to throw four pucks on goal during four power plays, and at least two of them were weak shots from the outside.
Their one glorious opportunity with the man advantage came when Washington turned the puck over off a Toronto dump-in, leaving James van Riemsdyk all alone in front. He attempted to slide the puck through Braden Holtby's five hole, rather than waiting out the netminder and lifting it over his right pad.
The most glaring issue was that Toronto's zone entries on the power play were stymied by Washington's penalty killers.
Defenseman Jake Gardiner, who quarterbacks a unit featuring Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Connor Brown, and Leo Komarov, said postgame that they need to change something on their power play, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
Gardiner appears to be channeling his inner Captain Obvious.
(Courtesy: Action Images)
Head coach Mike Babcock pointed to Toronto's weak zone entries after the game.
"Well, not winning any faceoffs and our entries haven't been very good," Babcock told reporters when asked why the power play struggled.
"We'll have to go back to the drawing board," he added. "They've done a good job on that and then obviously they've got in our head a little bit there because we're not coming with the same kind of pace we normally do on entries."
Like many teams, the Leafs opt to skate the puck up to the neutral zone and drop it back to a deep player with a full head of steam. Whether that puck-carrier was Matthews, Nylander, or Mitch Marner, nobody was very successful.
This tactic was awfully successful throughout the regular season, but in a seven-game series, opponents begin to catch on.
Even in the few occasions where they were able to get the puck into Washington's zone, their setup was short-lived. The Capitals did a great job taking away time and space from Toronto's skilled players on the half wall, and of blocking shots when Toronto was able to find some space.
Whatever adjustments need to be made with their power play, the Leafs have arguably the best coach in the business in Babcock to find and fix the issues.
If the Maple Leafs can't get their power play going in Game 6, there likely won't be a Game 7.