Leaf Takeaways: Coach wants his leaders to ‘take control’ of letdowns

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It’s one thing for the Maple Leafs to say they must be ‘better in all areas’; quite another to hear it after a game in mid-December.

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There was plenty to pick apart in their second straight home loss, where they blew a lead Saturday, ending on the wrong end of a 6-3 tally to the Edmonton Oilers. While Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl did their expected damage, the Leafs still could’ve got points with better attention to detail.

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Our Takeaways from a loss that matched a season high for goals against:

TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADERS

McDavid and Draisaitl had six points, Auston Matthews and his alternate captains none, though Matthews did have a big role in Toronto’s early go-ahead goal and William Nylander was at 75% power from a morning illness, according to coach Craig Berube.

But Berube thinks his top players could do more when it comes to setting the right tone for the third period, two of which this week have seen the visitors dominate for eventual wins. That was the theme of his post-game comments to his team and he didn’t mind sharing some of his message after.

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“Our leaders have got to take control of it a lot more than they are right now. To me, it’s all a mindset, whether you’re down a goal or up one like the San Jose game. We have to have more urgency.

“We come out and we look flat, whatever it is. We should come out and dictate.”

Motivation is also Berube’s job, and when either must get more provocative or keep the heat on via high-profile benchings that got the attention of players such as Max Domi and Dakota Joshua.

THIRD IS A DIRTY WORD

The Leafs are hardly the first team to get run down by the McDavid – Draisaitl express, but they were handling that pressure early on.

The players who spoke post-game acknowledged that the letdowns had started with checking.

“You have to make them come 200 feet and we didn’t do enough of that,” said centre Scott Laughton. “They have two of the best in the world, but you can make it harder on them.”

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Laughton stopped short of saying effort was lacking, given the McDavid dynamic.

“Sometimes when things go a bit south, you start standing and watching. You make it look that way sometimes when some of their guys get going.”

What drove Berube bonkers was how the Leafs allowed a last-minute goal in the second frame, when Nick Robertson’s blind centring pass turned into a McDavid – Draisaitl rush and Darnell Nurse goal.

“First of all (the line) should’ve changed, then we’re caught on the wrong side of it after playing well for two periods,” the coach said.

The John Tavares-Nylander line and the veteran blueline pair of Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Morgan Rielly were in reverse on consecutive tips by Vasily Podkolzin, each defenceman failing to tie up the forward in front of Dennis Hildeby.

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“We weren’t hard enough around our net, 100 per cent,” Berube added.

OWN GOAL GUTS STECHER

A bad Leaf clear led to an unfortunate result for defenceman Troy Stecher, the waiver pick-up from Edmonton, whose play has been a huge part of Toronto’s December turnaround without the injured Chris Tanev and Brandon Carlo.

Trying to sweep away McDavid’s centring pass, he put it in his own net. Stecher went to Hildeby right away and then to the Leaf bench, pointing at his chest, “That’s on me.”

Stecher was not made available after the game, but Hildeby absolved him.

“He said sorry. (Bleep) happens, he was doing the right thing, trying to get it out of the way. I maybe could’ve got my stick on the pass in the first place. It was just unfortunate.”

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BACK TO THE WOLL

The six goals on 32 shots underlined that ‘Hildebeast’ is not Superman. He was making his fourth straight start and while he had a .933 save percentage, McDavid outclassed him on a deke to open the scoring.

Though Joseph Woll was ready to be activated from a lower-body injury suffered in Carolina on Dec. 4, Hildeby deserved Saturday’s start. Now it should be Woll on Tuesday against Chicago.

The hope is that Woll and Hildeby can be as effective as Woll and Anthony Stolarz were in tandem last year, with Stolarz now out indefinitely. Before sending Artur Akhtyamov back to the Marlies, Berube gave him the last 16 and a half minutes for an NHL debut, where he made four saves.

Lhornby@postmedia.com 

X: @sunhornby

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