The Toronto Maple Leafs and head coach Craig Berube have seemingly answered the calls from the fanbase (and former Leaf Frankie Corrado) with new-look power play units at practice. TSN’s John Lu was the first to report.
#Leafs power play:
Knies
Marner – Pacioretty – Matthews
RiellyTavares
Domi – McMann – Nylander
OEL@TSN_Edge— John Lu (@JohnLuTSNWpg) October 28, 2024
The change sees Matthew Knies and John Tavares switching units as the net-front presence, with Max Pacioretty and William Nylander switching places as well. Morgan Rielly remains on the point as he was for the first few games, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson quarterbacks the second one.
Nylander’s demotion (if you want to call it that) to the second unit comes amid a three-game pointless streak and some ‘frustration,’ as Berube alluded to postgame following the team’s 4-3 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.
“Early on, he was creating a lot of opportunities, and he’s scored a couple of goals. But the power play is not scoring. I think a little bit of frustration has set in with him as of right now. Not getting enough clean looks.” he said of Nylander’s recent struggles.
Although an ill-timed miscommunication between Matthews and Marner led to the overtime winner from Boston, those two had what was probably their best games of the season on Saturday night. Marner finished the game with three assists, and Matthews had a goal and an assist, including a stunning redirection past Jeremy Swayman to get the game into overtime with under two minutes to go in the third period.
The change comes at a pivotal time to get the team’s groove back with the man advantage, with an ugly 3-for-30 conversion rate dragging behind them and a nearly 10% clip since February of last season. The Maple Leafs seem to have tightened up their defensive game as a whole (save for a few bad giveaways here and there), but their ability to convert on the power play has continued to plague them early on and plays a big part of why they currently sit below .500 at 4-4-1.
Other lineup changes include Nick Robertson sitting for Pontus Holmberg and Conor Timmins coming in for Philippe Myers, who made his Leafs debut in Boston.
The Maple Leafs are visiting the 8-0-0 Winnipeg Jets, who remain the NHL’s only undefeated team and are hopeful that the changes will get some much-needed life out of their power play units to cut their own losing streak at three games.
