Toronto Maple Leaves forward Bobby McMann Played only two shifts after a turnover in the second period Boston Bruins Goal on Saturday night.

“I didn’t say anything to him after the game, but I definitely will,” Leafs head coach Craig Berube said. “We need to clean up these mistakes.”

Winger McMann, who started the match on the second line, mishandled the defender’s pass. Philippe Myers in the defense zone. The failed escape led to a fire drill in front of Toronto’s goal. Justin Brazeau eventually turns into a chance for recovery.

But McMann isn’t the only one making mistakes. Berube sees growing pains in the roster as the Leafs adjust to a north-south system, having dropped three straight decisions and lost four of their last five games.

“Business is slowly coming back,” Berube said. “Old habits come back.”

Many familiar problems are emerging for the Leafs, who fell to 4-4-1 following Saturday’s overtime loss to the Bruins. Toronto also got off to a slow start under former coach Sheldon Keefe. They opened a little better last year with 5-3-1. They started with 4-4-1 in the previous two years.

The captain said, “It’s the ninth game, isn’t it?” Auston Matthews he emphasized. “Sometimes it takes time. It’s not going to fall into place perfectly right away. I think you just want to take positive steps in the right direction. (Saturday) was a much better game competitively than the previous two games.”

Leafs lost 11-3 on the road Columbus Blue Jackets And St.Louis BluesLast season, there were two teams that could not make it to the play-offs at the beginning of the week. Wasting points to teams below them in the rankings has become a problem in recent years. Toronto struggled to beat Boston, not just in the playoffs. The Bruins have won eight consecutive regular season games against the Leafs.

Boston jumped Toronto early Saturday and took a 10-5 lead in shots after 20 minutes. High danger chances gave the Bruins a 6-1 lead in the first period. According to NaturalStatTrick.com.

“We didn’t manage to get away cleanly,” winger Mitch Marner said. “That’s something we’ve talked about and something we need to get better at. As wingers, we have to do a better job on the walls.”

Berube thinks his players are “close” to playing the style he wants.

“We’re back to much better control,” he said. “We struggled around our network and in battles.”

Berube also liked the offensive zone time created on Saturday, but didn’t think the players did enough to turn it into a good look. This is something Keefe has struggled with, too.

“We have to shoot more from the top,” Berube said. “That’s one thing. And try to shoot a little faster. There are times in the third period when all our forwards are stuck in the net and (we) just can’t get it done. We need to go out and create some separation. A little more in the offensive zone.”

The Leafs made just six shots in the third period despite trailing nearly all of the time.

Clearly, there’s still work to be done. However, it is not easy to make improvements when the schedule is compressed. Toronto initially planned to hold a practice on Sunday before traveling to Winnipeg, but canceled the practice.

“Today is long drives and, you know, overtime, tough games,” Berube explained. “Some guys had too many minutes.”

Last week’s show was unforgiving. The Leafs made a strong effort to get a win at home on Monday. Tampa Bay Lightning. They then traveled to Columbus, where they lost 6-2 on Tuesday. After Wednesday’s off day, the team failed to recover from a 5-1 home defeat. St.Louis Blues.

Next up is a game against the undefeated Jets (8-0-0) on Monday.

The Leafs have held only one practice (Friday) in the last nine days. It’s hard to stay fit without these additional reps.

“What’s hurting our team right now are fundamental mistakes made at the wrong times,” Berube concluded.

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Just 36 seconds after Brazeau’s goal, another Leafs mistake led to another Boston tally. William NylanderUsually a smooth skater, he lost an advantage when carrying the puck high in the offensive zone, which opened the door to a 3-on-2 offense on the other side.

Nylander also had a costly turnover in Thursday’s loss to the Blues.

Although the 28-year-old winger continues to lead the team with five goals, he has not scored a point in three consecutive matches.

“He’s a little bit disappointed as of right now,” Berube said. “I can’t get a clean enough look.”

Nylander also received a double minor for high commitment on Saturday. He finished the night with two shots in 18 minutes of ice time. Nylander was not released to the media after the game.

Berube told reporters he plans to talk to Nylander about these issues. The two were seen sitting together and chatting as media left the team hotel on Sunday.

“I’m just trying to help him and show him things he can do better,” Berube said. “But I also think there’s not a lot of chemistry between his lines (McMann and Max Domi) Right now.”

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Berube noted that the lack of power play success likely contributed to Nylander’s frustration. Nylander led the Leafs with 35 power-play points last season.

The Leafs are 3/30 on the power play this season after going 0/3 in Boston. Toronto even went 3-for-5 on Saturday but couldn’t pull the trigger at the right time.

defensive Morgan Rielly He rejoined the top unit for the game against the Bruins.

“Just to see if anything would happen,” Berube said. “We had 3 against 5, so there were two empty nets and we weren’t putting them in.”

While defensive Oliver Ekman-Larsson We looked at the top player over a series of games, leaving the team with the same four forwards: Matthews, Nylander, Marner and John Tavares – in the upper unit.

“It will come,” Berube insisted. “I have confidence in this team, and you know, they’re going to get it done. They’re going to get it done on the power play.”

The Leafs eased the tension on the power play last season before going 1/21 in an ugly playoff series against Boston.

One of the problems right now is preparation in the offensive zone.

“Maybe sometimes we should be a little smarter and cut down a little more, do a hard rim or something like that,” Marner said. “Just start there and try to break the pressure.”

This problem is compounded by the fact that Tavares has won just 44.8 percent of his power play draws. Last year, Tavares won 59.8 percent of his power play faceoffs.

“We’re just one step behind,” Matthews said when asked about district entries.

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The Leafs nearly stole a second point on Saturday, but Matthews, who controlled the game at the start of overtime, turned the puck over and added to the score. Brad Marchand winning.

“I thought someone was coming back,” Matthews explained. “Then as I was about to pass, I looked up and saw that wasn’t the case. So I went back and tried to make a play. It was just an unfortunate bounce.”

More than a minute into his shift, Matthews was pursued by Marchand as he retreated into the defensive zone. Rielly and Marner were on the ice, looking for a quick break or line change. Matthews tried to clear the puck with a long pass, but the ball was easily cleared. David Pastrnak.

“It was a tough game against Auston,” Berube said. “We should have supported him a little more in this game. We left him there alone. It was everyone’s fault there.”

Rielly and Marner tried to come back but were unable to until Marchand managed to recover after a great save. Anthony Stolarz.

“We want to be a good overtime team and a good 3-on-3 team because those are critical points,” Berube said. he said.

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The Leafs can’t go into overtime without Marner’s three assists.

“He’s a phenomenal player,” Rielly said. “He has a great vision.”

Marner set up Rielly for a one-timer goal on a 4-on-4 run in the second period.

“When you play with him long enough you can guess what he’s thinking,” Rielly said.

Marner scored on Matthews on a 5-on-6 pass with just over a minute remaining.

“It was a great introduction,” Marner said. “(Matthews) quickly kicked to John and made an incredible cross-ice pass from Johnny to me. I saw (Matthews) go backwards, tried to hit the seam, lucky enough it worked. He doesn’t miss those often.”

Marner logged 26 minutes, 12 seconds of ice time, his highest total in a regular season game since Oct. 20, 2022.

“I overused it last night,” Berube admitted. “But with the penalty shootout and extra time, you know, it got a little bit longer. And it’s my responsibility to work on that a little bit more. I shouldn’t use him too much in the penalty shootout, but he’s an extremely good player. He’s a good penalty kicker.”

Marner played four minutes less on Saturday.

As Keefe has done over the years, Berube plans to rely heavily on Toronto’s dynamic duo. Marner is averaging 21:40 of ice time per game so far, an increase from 21:17 last season. Matthews is playing 20:58, which is the same as Keefe averaged 21 minutes in his senior season.

ContentId(1.2196178): ‘I overused him’: Berube, Leafs rely on Marner’s spell in Boston

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Stolarz kept the Leafs in the game in the first period and the Bruins, who had lost three in a row, took the lead.

“It was important to weather that storm in the first 10 minutes,” Matthews said. “Stolie was huge for us.”

Stolarz was playing his first game against the Bruins.

“When you look on the other side you see (Jeremy) Swayman, so you know you have to make a sharp play,” he said.

Stolarz allowed a season-high four goals on 34 shots, but make no mistake about it, this was another strong performance.

“I saw the puck very well again,” the 30-year-old player said. “I mean, obviously being 6-foot-4 helps… My reads were good. The pucks were sticking to me, and I thought my puck handling was pretty good, too.”

Stolarz has a stellar .927 save percentage on the season.

Stolarz wasn’t happy with his effort on Saturday. Felt he could block a corner pass John Beecher with Mark Kastelic on the third Boston goal.

“I would like to get the third one back,” he said. “I took a half-second look to see where his guys were and he threw the ball forward. It’s a quick play and you’ve got to be ready for anything.”

even with Joseph Woll Following the injury, Stolarz is on track to make most of the starts at forward.

“He deserved it,” Berube said. “He played extremely well. But you know, we talk and talk about these things all the time.”

Berube notes that the Leafs need to manage their workload and take rest into account. Stolarz has already played six matches. He didn’t make his sixth appearance until December last year. Florida Panthers.

After Monday’s game, the Leafs won’t play again until Thursday. Seattle Kraken Visit Toronto.

ContentId(1.2196181): Stolarz earns more starts for Leafs even if Woll returns

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The starting lines for the game to be played in Boston on Saturday:

Knies-Matthews-Marner
McMann – Domi – Nylander
Pacioretty – Tavares – Robertson
Lorentz – Kampf – Reaves

Rielly-Ekman-Larsson
McCabe – Tanev
Benoit-Myers

Stolarz begins
wool