SAN JOSE, Calif. — On a day where a near-magnitude-five earthquake was the most interesting thing happening around the Toronto Maple Leafs, the club fell 4-1 to the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday. The loss officially eliminated Toronto from participating in the playoffs for the first time in 10 years.
It had been evident for a while that the club wasn’t destined to be competing in the league’s greatest showcase. But what is less evident—and what made Craig Berube a bit more contemplative—is the way the regular season has gone. One thing he’s been unhappy about all season? The team is not shooting enough.
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“I think we don’t look to shoot enough, personally. I mean, there’s a lot of times where it’s just a simple shot. It’s not our first instinct, in my opinion,” Berube said. “Even from the back end when we get pucks, like, we could move our feet quicker and get them through. I think it’s a mindset more than anything”.
I asked Berube if he felt it has something to do with his team being a little selfless, trying to get it to their teammates.
“Sometimes. In the second period there, there was opportunities where just, we’re right there and we’re trying to pass it into the net. And, you know, we’ve got to get that out of our system. You know, we’ve got to put more pucks at the net,” Berube explained. “You know, simple shots—like in the third, Max shoots one and hits the post. I mean, it’s from a ways out. But those are the types of things, like, and, you know, I can go back and look at when we shoot the puck, we recover it probably 80% of the time”.
Berube seems to feel that even low-quality shots would generate better chances for the Leafs on rebounds. That might be the case, but it’s also clear the club hasn’t bought into it, continuing to play the way they do.
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While the Sharks were desperate for the win to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Leafs now face a different reality. Now that they face the mathematical reality of being out, it’ll be interesting to see if they use their last call-up to bring in another defenseman just to change things up.
On the same day the Leafs were eliminated, Mitch Marner—who departed the Leafs after being a part of Toronto’s previous nine seasons of consecutive playoff appearances—recorded his first hat trick with the Vegas Golden Knights. Meanwhile, forwards Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann each scored a goal for the Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken, respectively. Both players were traded for picks as the Leafs shifted from Stanley Cup contenders at the start of the season to a team looking for its identity and a path for the future.
The Leafs will see Laughton and the Kings on Friday to close out their four-game road trip out West.
Although the Maple Leafs are 11 points out with six games remaining behind the Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets, who are in a three-way tie for the second wild-card spot at 88 points, Toronto could still finished with 89 points. However, Detroit and Columbus have a game against each other remaining on the schedule. Because one of those teams is guaranteed to win that game and collect an additional two points in the standings, Toronto was technically 13 points out instead of 11, and thus eliminated from the postseason.
