Leafs Power Play in Shambles! Auston Matthews Sounds the Alarm: A Lot of Nothing Going on

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews feels that his team is overcomplicating things on the power play and they need to get back to basics.

In Saturday’s shutout loss to the Vancouver Canucks, the Leafs got three power-play chances on the night and combined to record two shots (both of which were on the first attempt). It was a microcosm of the special team unit’s overall struggles as they have slumped to 18th in the league.

It is certainly a far cry from the depths that the Leafs experienced at the beginning of the regular season when they were near the bottom of the NHL in power play percentage. Still, it is unacceptable for a team with the amount of talent on the roster to have their man advantage continue to struggle.

“I think just simplifying it. I think we just got to get more pucks to the net,” Matthews said after the game on how he thinks it should be fixed. “It was a lot of movement, a lot of nothing going on, I guess. We could do a better job of simplifying it and getting shots to the net and letting things open up from there.”

What isn’t helping the issue is that the Leafs’ zone entries did them no favours in terms of their ability to get anything set up. There were too many instances in the game where they skated to the centre of the ice, laid a drop pass to the streaking player, and see their attempts get thwarted with ease as the Canucks had it too easy to clear the puck out. Even if they did get the puck into the offensive end, there was too much perimeter play and a lack of urgency to get the puck to the net.

Head coach Craig Berube was getting riled up at his players at morning skate on Saturday, calling for better puck control on the man advantage. Suffice it to say his calls were not answered because their uninspired showing earlier in the day translated into the contest.

“Depending on personnel, we have big bodies in front,” Matthews said. “Obviously we’ve got guys who can shoot it. So it’s just a matter of getting pucks through and getting guys there. It wasn’t just on our 5-on-5, it was everything. Just being more connected throughout, supporting each other. Supporting the puck all over the ice, I just didn’t think we were really connected tonight.”

The longer this rut goes on, the more it compounds the concerns Leafs fans have about the team’s ability to win the special teams battle in the postseason. The importance of the team going on a deep run this spring has led to fans wanting the team to move on from Marc Savard and bring in a different voice to shake up the man advantage in a positive direction.

The Leafs will have a few days to try and get the power play back on track, which Berube felt was a bit disconnected throughout the night.

“Getting opportunities,” Berube said on what the power play can do to help generate momentum. “ I think shooting the puck, moving it quick, attacking, shooting it, those types of things. That gives you momentum for sure.”

Toronto will look to turn things around on the man advantage when they host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday.