Florida beats the Leafs clean

First Period

The first 20 minutes was fast and the goals came quickly as the teams traded cheesy penalty calls. The Panthers scored on their power play.

Toronto answered back with some effective offensive shifts, notably from the second and third lines. Fraser Minten in particular was very good, and his line came closest to scoring.

The score, 2-0, says that period was all Florida, but it was even at five-on-five. The Leafs power play – that changes configuration every game again – was not very good, though.

Second Period

The thing I'm noticing in this game is that Florida passes the puck confidently and firmly to someone in their own zone and then they exit. Toronto bats it away someplace, and maybe someone gets it and if they do, they ring it around the boards, and they repeat that twice, before eventually they exit.

Now, to be clear here, Toronto is generally very good at keeping quality shots against to a minimum, but part of that time ticking away while they faff about with the puck is time they aren't spending in the offensive zone.

Toronto: 2.33 xGA/60 at even strength. Florida: 2.43. Seventh and tenth in the NHL and what amounts to close to identical.

Edge possession time has Toronto 39.9% of the time in the defensive zone or in the 54th percentile. Florida is 38% or the 93rd percentile. Florida's offensive zone time is 90th percentile and Toronto's is 70th.

"Keeping the shots to the outside" is great and all, and keeping the number low as the Leafs do is also good. Wasting time while you're about it is not.

(Sorry for the stats in the middle of a recap, but this is stark when you watch these two teams.)

Also, remember that this is the best Leafs team defensively in the Matthews era. I'm not saying they're bad, just sub-optimal in how they manage the puck.

This play made me think Robertson is better than I thought he was and yet... still isn't enough.

The pass to no one reared its very ugly head at the end of the period with the Leafs on the power play. A power play that existed because John Tavares got hauled down making a scoring play, to be fair.

3-0 Florida.

Mitch Marner from Nikita Grebenkin ended this period on a high note. Grebenkin's first point in the NHL. Nope, Grebenkin never touched the puck.

3-1 Florida was the final score after two periods.

Toronto played very low event, and came out no better off on their one good power play.

Third Period

Bobby McMann disappeared in the second near the end of the period, and did not come out for the third. This was how Nikita Grebenkin ended up on the top line.

Using Moneypuck's Expected Goals model, that Mitch Marner goal accounts for 40% of the Leafs Expected Goals in the entire game early in the third.

With just under seven minutes to go, William Nylander took a double minor for high-sticking, and that, pretty much was that.

Carter Verhaeghe scored during the first two minutes.

Final score was 5-1 Florida after an ENG.

Bottom line, Florida was the better team in all three zones and all situations. And before you get too upset about that, scroll up and look at the Leafs lineup again. They really did give it all they had.

Next Leafs game is Saturday in Tampa, see you that afternoon for the Toronto Sceptres season opener.