It’s been an increasing source of frustration for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans, but head coach Craig Berube appears to be optimistic about the team’s power play, following his team’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins.
Toronto is now 3-for-30 to begin the year on the man advantage and Berube has promoted Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the first unit, but hasn’t separated the team’s top units otherwise. During the first period, the Maple Leafs held a 5-on-3 advantage for 32 seconds, after John Beecher joined Morgan Geekie in the penalty box, but Jeremy Swayman shut the door and the first period remained scoreless.
“We had the 5-on-3, I mean, there was two empty nets and we just don’t put them in,” Berube said post-game via TSN’s Mark Masters. “But it will come. I’m confident in this team and they’ll get it going.”
Toronto’s power play finished 0-for-3 overall on Saturday night and despite boasting some of the best offensive talent in the world in Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, the unit can’t seem to find the back of the net, while the league may have caught onto its static entries.
Last season, the Maple Leafs converted at a 24 percent clip on the power play, the 7th-best total in the league. Toronto is operating under a new system with Berube now in place as head coach, taking over from Sheldon Keefe, who has moved onto the New Jersey Devils. Maple Leafs assistant coach Marc Savard is widely credited for overseeing the team’s power play, but through the opening month of the season, there have been very few answers.
Toronto resumes its season Monday against the unbeaten Winnipeg Jets, who are killing penalties at a 87.5 percent success rate, the seventh-best total in the league thus far. It may call upon Berube to make a few amendments, as the Maple Leafs are too talented to accept this dormant level of production.
