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Maple Leafs report cards: An F-worthy first period, a turnaround and an imperfect win

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Maple Leafs report cards: An F-worthy first period, a turnaround and an imperfect win

For much of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 3-2 win on Tuesday, they looked utterly inept.

They came out of the gates against the Philadelphia Flyers, fanning on shots, missing the net and failing to connect on basic bases. That led to Philadelphia outshooting them 10-2 in the first period and taking a 1-0 lead.

From there, Toronto turned it around to some extent, but they didn’t exactly dominate. They were outshot in the second and third and did little to prevent a late-game offensive flurry from Philadelphia.

Luckily for the Maple Leafs, a trio of their elite finishers — Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Matthew Knies — each found the back of the net, allowing them to convert a paltry 17 shots into a respectable three goals. Joseph Woll did the rest with an excellent day between the pipes.

The first period was genuinely an ‘F’ so we can’t bring the full grade higher than a ‘C+”.

Unit grades

L1 (Matthew Knies — Auston Matthews — Mitch Marner): A-

The top unit can hardly say it imposed its will on the game, but when the Maple Leafs were getting dangerously close to another overtime date with the Flyers, Knies came through.

Matthews and Marner also combined for Toronto’s second goal on the kind of play that looks awfully familiar — but hasn’t been so common this season.

While this group didn’t constantly pepper the net, they got the job done, and the Flyers managed just two shots in the 10:16 at five-on-five.

L2 (Bobby McMann— John Tavares — William Nylander): C-

McMann was moved up to this unit in an effort to reward his recent strong play, but it didn’t result in much. The speedy power forward whiffed on a glorious opportunity, and neither Tavares nor Nylander created much at five-on-five.

Nylander’s goal-less drought is now up to eight games, and he didn’t come close to breaking it in this one. The Swede didn’t get a shot on goal and only managed two attempts.

L3 (Max Pacioretty — Max Domi — Steven Lorentz): C-

On paper, this Frankenstein third line possessed a quasi-intriguing combination of playmaking and rambunctiousness.

In reality, it rarely felt dangerous. Even so, Toronto did well in the group’s five-on-five minutes, outshooting the Flyers 5-2.

The biggest moment any of the trio had was Lorentz’s break in the second.

L4 (Connor Dewar — David Kämpf — Ryan Reaves): A

This line presided over Philadelphia’s first goal, and to add insult to injury, it took a deflection off the stick of Reaves.

Neither Dewar nor Reaves were on the ice for a shot for, but one of them tried to inject some energy into his team by dropping the gloves — just not the one specifically inserted into the lineup to do just that or something like it.

D1 (Oliver Ekman-Larsson–Chris Tanev): A

On a night when most units were getting filled in, this group held its own territorially as both had on-ice shot attempt rates above 60 percent and expected goal rates above 75 percent at five-on-five.

Ekman-Larsson logged a heavy workload (24:35) and produced two blocks, three hits, and four shots. He also gave Ivan Fedotov all he could handle on a third-period clapper.

Tanev wasn’t prominent in the box score, but his crisp, short-area passing stood out on a night when many Maple Leafs couldn’t find their teammates’ sticks.

D2 (Morgan Rielly–Philippe Myers): B-

Rielly and Myers both had relatively low-key evenings until the very end when the pair each drew an assist on the winning goal.

Before that, they looked as uninspired as much of the Maple Leafs team. Myers delivered five hits, but that number overstates the degree to which his physicality seemed game-changing.

D3 (Simon Benoit–Conor Timmins): D

It was a tough day in Philadelphia for Toronto’s reunited third pair.

Early in the game, Benoit was among the Maple Leafs who got a promising shot opportunity and blasted it wide. Then, the pair was on the ice for Philadelphia’s first goal.

While a flukey deflection contributed to that outcome, there’s no convenient excuse for how a Timmins blunder led to the Flyers’ second goal.

Benoit didn’t have any mistakes as glaring, but he had the worst possession numbers on the team as Toronto was out-attempted 17-5 in his five-on-five minutes.

Power play: B+

It’s not hyperbolic to describe the first two Maple Leafs power plays as putrid. In both cases, they were held without a shot, and the Flyers got notable chances going the other way.

After those horrendous efforts, Toronto shifted to a five-forward look and got the results they were looking for.

That goal had far more to do with Tavares’ shooting acumen than crisp play from the unit, but that doesn’t make it count any less. Toronto’s second goal was technically a five-on-five marker, but it came on a passing play that started when the team still had the man advantage.

It’s a tough one to grade because you could argue the unit never really looked good, but it also arguably contributed most of the team’s offence.

Penalty kill: A-

The penalty kill was spared a heavy workload the first time the Flyers had a chance, as an errant high-sticking limited their power play to 38 seconds.

In the two full-length kills the Maple Leafs had to execute, they were sharp, conceding just two shots and asking Woll to make a single standout save.

With 47.2 seconds left in the game, Toronto called on this unit again, and it answered the call, with a little help from their goaltender.

Goaltender (Joseph Woll): A

Woll wasn’t constantly under fire on Tuesday but kept the game in hand at critical junctures. When the Maple Leafs came out utterly flat in the first period, he prevented the Flyers from taking a multi-goal lead.

When Philadelphia came on strong at the end of the game, he was there — especially on the Flyers’ final power play. Woll finished the game with 30 saves on 32 shots.

He’s now won his last five starts with a save percentage of .934 in that span.

Game score

What’s next?

The Maple Leafs head to Carolina to face the Hurricanes on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. on TSN.

(Photo: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)

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