Maple Leafs report cards: Strong start erased by poor finish in Nashville

New York Times

23-03-2025

Walking into Nashville having won their last three, the Leafs had a good opportunity to claim the sole top spot in the Atlantic Division. Tampa Bay lost to Utah and Florida lost to Washington. The Leafs only needed one point against Nashville tonight, and although it looked like it would go that way after the first, they allowed the Predators, who struggle to score, to put five goals in the net for a 5-2 Toronto loss.
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It was a race to three goals considering Nashville went into this game averaging 2.54 goals per game. After a strong opening period that completely took the fans at Bridgestone Arena out of the game, they allowed the Predators to get right back in it with a poor middle frame. The Leafs only had five shots on Juuse Saros, none of which were high-danger chances. They put up another nine in the third, some of which were more difficult, but they couldn't get a third goal. Their proximity to the net was another piece of the losing puzzle. Matthew Knies' rebound on the power play in the first was their closest scoring chance in terms of distance. The next was Bobby McMann's in the third period, nearly 28 minutes in game time later.
We haven't seen these kinds of mistakes from the Leafs in some time, though the theme of playing down to one's opponent and taking a foot off the gas were the main culprits in this one.
Regardless of the win streak heading into it, this is a difficult loss to accept. The team gets a final grade of D+.
The second line stayed intact and McMann didn't take it for granted as he was the most noticeable at 5v5. He had the first shot of the game using his speed and strength to fight off Justin Barron and again, did a really good job as the last forward in the zone when his line had pressure. McMann had another one of these in the third.
His pins along the boards not only gave his linemates time to change, but time for the next line to get on the ice and establish positioning to maintain presence in the offensive zone.
The Leafs' fourth line outplayed the Predators' fourth line, and it was pretty noticeable. They had six shots on net to the opposition's one and they could've added a goal to their totals if not for the high stick. It's unfortunate; that goal would've been huge for Laughton but he's working his way to it and set up good scoring chances for Lorentz in the second and Morgan Rielly in the third.
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Kämpf's coverage on the 2-2 goal was a stain for the line defensively. McCabe goes for the pinch, and he has to be there to cover the pinch.
Ekman-Larsson was the only other defenceman other than Rielly to play at least 20 minutes and had four hits. Benoit, specifically had a good defensive play during a shift with Carlo after he missed the puck at the blue line taking a good path to cut Colton Sissons off. The two also had a good sequence in the second period firing back-to-back shots each at Saros.
Benoit gets back to cover for Carlo pic.twitter.com/NhSytpfVEC
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 23, 2025
Seventh time he's hit the 30-goal mark in his career and the third doing so with the Leafs. Tavares has been on a heater, particularly on the power play as of late and the tally got the ball rolling for the team.
JOHN TAVARES 🚨
30 GOALS! pic.twitter.com/lmrmAJr9MS
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 22, 2025
Despite the multitude of errors in front of him, Woll didn't look good on those first two goals. He missed the read and was late to his left post on the power play and went down early ahead of the Kieffer Bellows goal. He came up with some huge saves as the game went on, including a short-handed stop on Sissons and a rebound robbery on Filip Forsberg.
huge save off the rebound by Woll pic.twitter.com/TKOaT2ThiR
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 23, 2025
He won't get a point on the Tavares goal, though he had two direct roles in it. Knies drew the call and he had a near-perfect screen on Saros. However, his interference right at the end of the first was the spark the Predators used to comeback and in the game.
He had impactful roles on both of the team's goals winning the puck battle on the power play and moving the puck to Marner at the point then going on to work out a perfect faceoff play for the 2-2 goal.
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Marner was back on the primary scoring side of things with an assist and a goal. The goal itself was a well-planned effort from Matthews, but the speed and accuracy of the shot were excellent. Similarly to his linemates, he didn't have much going after the first.
MITCH MARNER 🚨
Right off the draw! Perfect plan! pic.twitter.com/bWD73HVYYb
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 22, 2025
Two pinches led right to goals against. The first wasn't all McCabe's fault as he could've used more support for his linemates to cover for the pinch into the offensive zone. The second, in the neutral zone, gave Nashville a three-on-one and a 3-2 lead. Another turnover by the defensive blue line in the third led to a near-minute of consistent pressure from Nashville.
Filip Forsberg gives Nashville the lead pic.twitter.com/40iWG6cDYw
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 23, 2025
Scoring chance at one end, goal against at the other. Rielly had a bit of room on Saros' right, but he made the save and the Predators skated down for a chance of their own. Similarly to Nashville's other goals, mistakes, miscommunication and poor coverage gave them the space to capitalize.
Luke Evangelista makes it 4-2 pic.twitter.com/To4pAIdLtD
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) March 23, 2025
Very quiet night for Nylander. He had two shots on net, but wasn't nearly as noticeable on his line.
Another night with this line not having much of a spark as they were being out-chanced and outshot at five-on-five. With offence being an expectation from this line, a shot differential of 1-7 isn't going to cut it.
The Leafs are at home Tuesday night to welcome the Philadelphia Flyers at 7:00 p.m. on TSN 4.