Maple Leafs report card: Routine play done well tops Lightning

On By Littum

The Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday wasn’t a dominant effort, but it was the kind of game the team has become accustomed to — and comfortable with.

Shots and chances were relatively close, but Toronto got a little more finishing from its top talent than the Lightning got from theirs. Goals were traded throughout the game, but the Maple Leafs never trailed and Tampa Bay couldn’t tie the game after Auston Matthews opened the scoring in the first period.

The Maple Leafs are getting plenty of experience clinging to narrow advantages, which appears to be paying off. The team is 16-1-0 when leading after the first and 20-0-0 when leading after two periods.

The win featured a few elements that Maple Leafs fans are used to seeing, like a breakout goal from William Nylander and Matthew Knies beating the Lightning, but it included almost anything new from Matthews.

It’s an ‘A’ effort, but we’ll give the whole team a B+ for an equally cool performance.

Unit grades

L1 (Matthew Knies – Auston Matthews – Mitch Marner): A

The top unit was effective in several ways Monday. The group handled the puck well and maintained steady offensive pressure for most of the game, but also showed quick hitting skills off the rush after two of Toronto’s goals.

Those goals were encouraging for the Maple Leafs for a couple of reasons, with Matthews displaying a shot that has looked more dangerous since his recent return from injury and Knies using a smart move to snap a five-game goalless drought.

Late in the game, the top players were stapled to the ice and put in some fine defensive work, with Marner scoring on the empty net to seal the win.

L2 (Bobby McMann — Pontus Holmberg — William Nylander): C+

These guys were relatively inconsistent as a trio for most of the night. They had a few moments of brilliance, notably a clean break for McMann…

… but they spent plenty of time in their own zone, outscoring the attempt 14-6 in their 11:10 at five-on-five.

We’ll bump up the score thanks to Nylander’s breakout goal in the second. Technically, he took a shift on the fourth line, but it’s safe to say he was the driving force behind Toronto’s second goal.

L3 (Max Domi — Fraser Minten — Nick Robertson): B

That line hadn’t played a single second together until Monday, and Minten played his first NHL game since mid-December. That didn’t stop the unit from getting off to a good start, outscoring Tampa Bay 5-0 in its first-period minutes and few quality chances.

The new line wasn’t as reliable from then on, and with the Maple Leafs consistently protecting a line, Craig Berube rarely trusted it to get on the ice.

L4 (Steven Lorentz — David Kämpf — Connor Dewar): C-

The fourth line didn’t play much or make much of an impression when it did. Its most notable feature was Kämpf’s penalty kick in the third, which resulted in Tampa Bay’s third goal.

Dewar played just 5:10 as the group was largely stuck on the bench.

D1 (Morgan Rielly — Jake McCabe): B+

One game isn’t enough to know if pairing Rielly with McCabe is a good idea long term, but the duo had a functional outing Monday. If nothing else, Rielly was able to earn far more ice time (20:45) than he did during his rough night against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (16:27).

McCabe had questionable numbers on the ice and didn’t do much to stand out, but the goal was to get Rielly going, and he showed some jump, finishing second on the team with five shot attempts at five-on-five — with a pair, that come from dangerous areas. He also assisted on Nylander’s goal.

While the new pair was on the ice for Tampa Bay’s second-period goal, Nick Paul’s deflection of a shot off the half-wall wasn’t particularly at fault.

D2 (Oliver Ekman-Larsson — Chris Tanev): B+

This pair served as the shutdown group, seeing plenty of the Lightning’s top lane and keeping it off the board. Both Ekman-Larsson and Tanev did a good job of winning puck battles in their own zone and moving the puck up the ice.

For most of the night, it was a stronger performance for the Swede as he earned an assist on Toronto’s first goal and finished with better numbers on the ice (58.53 expected goal rate) than his partner (49.13 percent) — but Tanev evened things up. with a brilliant play to clear the puck from the goal line with less than four minutes remaining.

D3 (Simon Benoit — Conor Timmins): B

Like the third line, these guys struggled to get on the ice as Toronto protected a late-game lead. Neither defenseman earned more than 14 minutes of ice time or stood out for their individual contributions.

For what it’s worth, their minutes went without a hitch as each had a projected goal rate of over 75 percent at five-on-five.

Powerplay: A+

Toronto got its first and only power play at a critical time after letting Tampa Bay get within a single goal.

The Maple Leafs needed just 48 seconds of that opportunity to take the wind out of the Lightning’s sails.

Criminal murder: C-

Toronto was shorthanded just twice, and it couldn’t keep Tampa Bay off the board.

The Lightning were able to whip the puck around a bit at the first opportunity, but for the most part the Maple Leafs kept chances to a minimum. The second time they weren’t so lucky as Paul found more than enough space in front of the net to pull his team within one.

Goalkeeper (Joseph Woll): B

The raw amount of rubber that Woll saw wasn’t overwhelming (30 shots), but he answered the call on several challenging attempts from Tampa Bay.

Woll allowed three goals, two of which came from Paul’s work around the crease, while the other was a rocket from Darren Raddysh.

The 26-year-old’s effort was far from flawless, but his steady presence helped prevent the Lightning from getting a foothold in the game in the second period, when they led the play, and he got his team through the third despite allowing a couple over. him.

Game score

What’s next?

The Maple Leafs stay at home and face the Columbus Blue Jackets at 7:30 PM ET Wednesday on Sportsnet.

(Photo by Auston Matthews: Claus Andersen/Getty Images)