The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to be surrounded by drama, even with Mitch Marner off in Vegas playing well for the Golden Knights. However, effort and hard work continues to be a problem for the Maple Leafs. Maybe Mitch Marner wasn’t the problem after all. Instead, they ran him out, and they are seeing maybe the team will always play a certain way and will not change.
On Saturday night, after the Maple Leafs lost 4-3 in overtime to the Seattle Kraken goaltender Anthony Stolarz called out the team’s effort in regards to how they played not only in regulation, but in the extra session, especially on the game-winning goal.
“I mean a lot of guys have been here for a while,” Stolarz told the media on Saturday. “You know overtime, you can’t let someone be up the ice there and gets a clear cut breakaway. I mean, minute left, you want to be on the ice in that situation, you got to work hard. Got to work back and cost us a point there.”
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Again, because it is Toronto, things got blown out of proportion, but he was right about the way Auston Matthews and William Nylander defended on Josh Mahura’s game-winning goal. Mahura started the play in his own zone behind the net and goaltender Joey Daccord.
How could both Matthews and Nylander let Mahura skate the puck up and play give and go with Jordan Eberle at the blue line, before scoring the game-winner on Stolarz. There was a lot of puck watching by both Nylander and Matthews. Nylander tried, but the previous offensive rush took something out of him.
So it begs the question as to why Nylander didn’t change if he was that tired when Mahura had the puck behind his net to regroup? Same for Matthews?
It is the same old story for the Toronto Maple Leafs when it comes to compete and effort. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. It is clear as day. The top players don’t want to get into the dirty areas on the ice. They want to play perimeter hockey and then ask why they lose when it matters most.
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While Marner deserved some of the blame, people are seeing he took more than he deserved when it came to the Maple Leafs struggles. This team constantly needs a kick in the pants in order to perform and play the right way. This is an issue that has gone on for years, long before Craig Berube got there, and he can’t fix it.
But we shouldn’t be talking about the same issues every year with the Maple Leafs. Eventually, the lessons should have been learned. The potential is there to win, right? Stolarz thinks so.
“You look around and we have it: The youth, the grit, the grind. We have those same intangibles and that’s why I feel so passionate about it,” Stolarz said on Monday to the media. “We took them to seven games last year, we were right there with the champs. We’re on the cusp of great things, we can do it and go all the way.”
Stolarz, who just signed his new extension with the club, won a Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. So he knows what it takes to win. There is an effort that is needed every night in order to accomplish the goal of lifting the Stanley Cup.
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He shouldn’t have to be the one who puts his teammates on notice and then have to clean it up because the players can’t take criticism. But that has been the problem since this core has gotten together. Players and coaches have had to walk a fine line about upsetting the “Core Four.”
Remember former coach Sheldon Keefe, who now coaches the New Jersey Devils, the Maple Leafs’ opponent on Tuesday, walked back comments he made about the effort his players were showing. Did he have to do that in New Jersey? Nope. Why is it necessary in Toronto? Comments like Stolarz and Keefe become drama because some players can’t take constructive criticism.
Now, Stolarz, Nylander, and Matthews, along with Berube had to talk about the comments the goaltender made on Saturday instead of how to become a better team. It is a story, but it shouldn’t be. Todd McLellan’s comments after Game 1 lit a fire under his Detroit Red Wings players. That could have backfired.
Nobody knows what Stolarz’s comments could do because they needed to talk it out and say everything is good, “we are a family, we push each other to be better.” And the Toronto Maple Leafs absolutely need to be better. They are off to an ok start, but at least Stolarz owned his play on the ice; the other two players didn’t really discuss it too much.
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It will be interesting to see how the Toronto Maple Leafs come out and play on Tuesday night against the Devils. Something has to change. The effort needs to be better from everyone, including Stolarz. It is time to back up his comments and not let them be a distraction.
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