Maple Leafs report cards: Mitch Marner benched in blown-lead loss to Ducks

It’s an awfully frustrating time for Toronto Maple Leafs fans.

The Leafs simply refuse to take care of business against weaker opponents. The team fell 4-3 to the Montreal Canadiens in their season opener, 4-2 to the Arizona Coyotes a couple of weeks ago, and 4-3 to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday. The Anaheim Ducks entered play with the worst record in the league, but the Leafs still found a way to lose.

The Leafs were up 3-1 with 13 minutes left, and a borderline goaltender interference call is the only reason they even got a point. Mitch Marner single-handedly let the Ducks back in the game with a terrible turnover at the offensive blue line, and Sheldon Keefe did not hesitate to call him out and bench him. The Leafs had this game in the bag, and they simply threw it away.

It’s their fourth consecutive loss, and the Leafs have just four wins in their first ten games.

First star

Denis Malgin

Malgin was back in the lineup after being a healthy scratch yesterday against the Los Angeles Kings. Toronto’s bottom six has lacked speed, transition skill, and offensive talent as of late, and Malgin wasted little time bringing those attributes to the table. He finished with three shots on goal in the first period alone, and pulled off a nice move to convert on a breakaway:

Malgin had a couple of nifty zone entries, and even threw a pretty big hit on John Klingberg. He hasn’t been on for a goal against this season, and he likely earned himself a spot in Wednesday’s lineup with his play.

Second star

William Nylander

Nylander surprisingly found himself playing centre between Nick Robertson and Malgin, and he made an impact with two primary assists. While his line didn’t generate a ton of scoring chances, he wasn’t on for a goal against either. He showed off his strong puck protection with this assist:

Third star

T.J. Brodie

Brodie made a gorgeous stretch pass that led to Jarnkrok’s short-handed goal. He wasn’t on for a five-on-five goal against for the third consecutive game, and the Ducks didn’t generate many chances when he was on the ice. It’s odd to see him on the left side when two other left-shot defencemen are playing on the right, but it worked out well for him. I’d keep him with Justin Holl for the next game.

Strong defensive play, combined with this pass, earned him one of the three stars:

Player reports B

Calle Jarnkrok

His third-period short-handed goal should have sealed the win for the Leafs. He wasn’t all that noticeable otherwise, but the Leafs didn’t get crushed in his minutes like they have been as of late. I’m not sure that I’d keep him on Tavares’ line long-term, but he displayed his value on the penalty kill.

The fourth line

Toronto’s checking line looked exactly as advertised, which hasn’t been the case for most of the season. Each player had a shot on goal in the first period, and they used their size and strength effectively to take away time and space. Kampf has looked much better since being reunited with Engvall, as the 6-foot-5 winger’s transition game helps them to spend more time in the offensive end. They were bailed out by the goalie interference call, but they didn’t really do anything wrong on the play anyways, other than lose the faceoff. I’d go back to this fourth line on Wednesday.

Nick Robertson

There were very few chances for either team when Robertson was on the ice tonight, but he won a key neutral zone battle that led to a secondary assist. Filip Kral fell down in the neutral zone, and if Robertson loses the battle, Anaheim likely has an odd-man rush the other way. Instead, Robertson was able to poke the puck up to Nylander, who set up Malgin for Toronto’s second goal. It was a nice play, but I’d like to see him be more noticeable for the full sixty minutes.

Mark Giordano

It took ten games, but Mark Giordano was finally on the ice for a goal against at five-on-five. It wasn’t even his fault! The Leafs won his minutes in terms of expected goals, and he made a nice stretch pass that led to Alex Kerfoot’s breakaway and penalty shot. He continues to look overqualified for a third-pairing role.

B-

Alex Kerfoot

I’ll be honest: I have no idea how to grade Kerfoot. First, he may have had a tap-in goal if he wasn’t busy celebrating when he thought Calle Jarnkrok had scored. I want to penalize him at least a bit for that, especially because Anaheim scored seconds later, but I thought it was in as well at the time. The Leafs out-chanced the Ducks handedly during his minutes, and he did set up Jarnkrok’s short-handed goal, but at some point, you just need to put the puck in the net. He’s yet to score at five-on-five this season, and he failed to convert both on his breakaway and on his penalty shot.

C-

The offensive pair (Rasmus Sandin and Morgan Rielly)

Sheldon Keefe paired his two offensive defencemen together, and they were fine but unspectacular. Rielly played on the right side and set up Jarnkrok for a good chance while streaking down the ice, and Sandin made some nice breakout passes that helped the Leafs to tilt the ice in their favour. Against a weaker opponent like Anaheim, I’d like to see them generate a goal or two from the back-end.

Erik Kallgren

The Leafs jumped out to a 2-1 lead with two minutes left in the first, and Erik Kallgren made a key save on a Frank Vatrano shot from the slot to maintain the team’s lead heading into the intermission. He was helped out by his crossbar halfway through the second, but once again, he came up big to keep his team ahead in the final seconds of the period.

He first stoned Max Comtois’ one-timer:

He wasn’t done there, as he stopped a breakaway from Derek Grant in the final seconds of the period:

Through forty, it was tough to ask for more from Toronto’s third-string goaltender. Unfortunately, things eventually went downhill for him in the third. While I won’t blame him all that much for Trevor Zegras’ breakaway goal, Anaheim’s game-tying goal was certainly on him:

Kallgren let in a fourth goal with under five minutes left, but the borderline goalie interference ruling went in his favour. Unfortunately, there was nothing to challenge on Anaheim’s overtime winner.

The top-two centres (Auston Matthews and John Tavares)

Auston Matthews scored a power-play goal when he was left alone in the slot, but at some point, you need your top two centres to produce at five-on-five. Matthews has 175 five-on-five goals since he entered the league, which is 36 ahead of Connor McDavid, who has played 35 games more than him. John Tavares is 11th in five-on-five goals during that span. They’ve combined for just one five-on-five goal through ten games, and it was off of a weak deflection.

The Leafs haven’t outscored their opponents at five-on-five during Tavares’ minutes in a single game this season. The entire team is built around their top-two centres winning their matchups, and the bottom-six playing boring low-event hockey. Matthews hit the cross-bar on a two-on-one three minutes in, but he made a lazy play defensively that gave the Ducks an odd-man rush. Marner will take the bulk of the criticism for this loss, but the top two centres need to produce at some point. Their lack of even-strength production is getting a bit ridiculous.

D

Filip Kral 

Sheldon Keefe made plenty of lineup changes for the second half of a back-to-back, but decided to play Kral over Victor Mete once again. His faith in the rookie was not rewarded, as while Kral had some nice breakout plays, he made several costly mistakes.

To start, Kral coughed up a bad giveaway in his first shift that led to a good scoring chance the other way. He wasn’t covering anyone in front on Anaheim’s first-period goal, and while he could be forgiven due to an unexpected sequence, there was no one to blame but himself for his second-period holding penalty. He then made an absolutely horrendous giveaway in the dying seconds of the second period that led to a breakaway. Kallgren bailed him out with a nice save, but it did lead to a Ducks power play. He ended up playing just over eight minutes, and since Timothy Liljegren is close to returning from an injury, I expect we’ll see Kral back with the Marlies shortly.

F

Mitch Marner

Marner set up his fair share of goals. Unfortunately, two of his set-ups were on Ducks goals. He picked up a secondary assist on Matthews’ power-play goal, but gave it right back with a defensive zone giveaway that led to Anaheim’s first goal.

Up 3-1 with 13 minutes left in the third, the Leafs simply had to make the simple plays and play responsible hockey. Marner did the opposite, turning the puck over at the offensive blue-line, and handing Trevor Zegras a breakaway. That giveaway let Anaheim back in the game, and led to Keefe benching one of his star players. Marner walked down the hallway to break a stick in frustration. While he almost redeemed himself in overtime, John Gibson robbed him of a game-winner. Marner played a big part in Toronto’s loss tonight.

MIA

Justin Holl and Michael Bunting

Bunting failed to pick up a point for the fourth consecutive game, but did finish with four shots on goal. Holl’s minutes were relatively quiet and uneventful, which was a nice change.

Game Score

Final grade: D

This feels like rock bottom for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The California road trip isn’t supposed to be as difficult as it used to be, and four straight losses are unacceptable for a team with this much star talent. The Leafs start their season with just four wins in their first ten games, and their strength of schedule has been quite easy. This team is having serious issues generating offence at five-on-five, and Denis Malgin of all people scored their only five-on-five goal. They faced backup goaltenders earlier this month rather than Jake Oettinger, Darcy Kuemper, or James Reimer, and their schedule is about to become far more challenging.

Costly mistakes late in the game spoiled an otherwise strong effort, but that’s not acceptable. If the borderline goaltender interference call hadn’t gone their way, they wouldn’t have even earned a point. You simply need to find a way to beat the 2022-2023 Anaheim Ducks. The Leafs can’t seem to figure out how to score at five-on-five this season.

What’s next for the Leafs?

Back to Toronto to take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Sportsnet One.

(Top photo: Jason Parkhurst / USA Today)