Toronto Maple Leafs Weekly Report: Offence Continues to Support Defence

4-3 Shootout loss to the Colorado Avalanche

Nov 6, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Roman Polak (46) stops a puck with his skate as Colorado Avalanche right wing Dennis Everberg (45) attempts to shoot on goalie Jonathan Bernier (45) in the first period at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Going into their game against the Avalanche, the Leafs had a chance to take advantage of a team that was even worse then them on defence. Unfortunately it took Toronto almost 10 minutes to get themselves going. They allowed the first goal early in the first period, just like the Arizona game, and it looked like the Leafs were going to be down a couple of goals early. Jonathan Bernier kept the Leafs in the game early with some big saves. The Leafs were also down two men with Daniel Winnik getting knocked out of the game after he was on the wrong end of a scary hit, followed by Gardiner leaving the game after blocking a shot.

The first goal made the Leafs look really bad (all goals make the team look bad, but this one was even worse!).

Nov 6, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) shoots the puck past Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier (45) as defenseman Cody Franson (4) and defenseman Jake Gardiner (51) defends the zone in the first period at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Phaneuf gets beat by

for the puck, who then passes it to Naathan MacKinnon, left open in front of the net by

and

. MacKinnon is unable to get a shot off, but Bernier slides out the net, allowing MacKinnon to skate behind the net and set up

who came down from the point to score the easiest goal of his life.

On the Leafs first goal, they found a way to catch the Avalanche playing the same type of defence that the Leafs usually play.

After Panik missed a one-timer, Franson puts the puck on the net, where it takes a weird bounce off Reto Berra, letting Phil Kessel practice his best Jose Bautista swing and he gets the Leafs on the board.

The second Leafs goal was a pretty nice effort on the power play.

Nov 6, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Toronto Maple Leafs center Tyler Bozak (42) celebrates his goal against the Colorado Avalanche in the second period at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

With Bozak in the slot, JVR gets a pass from Franson. However, instead of holding onto the puck, he quickly passes the puck to Bozak in the slot, who makes no mistake as he puts it past Berra to give the Leafs the lead. The nice part of that play was that JVR does not give the Avalanche defence a chance to react to the play, because of the tic-tac-toe play. Bozak usually does not miss when he is left open in the slot.

The Avalanche then tied the game a minute later when Alex Tanguay got behind Polak and Stuart Percy for a breakaway that he makes no mistake on. The Avalanche took the lead halfway through the third period, with Matt Duchene stuffing a wrap-around goal past Bernier.

Nov 6, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; Colorado Avalanche goalie Reto Berra (20) defends his net in the second period against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Pepsi Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

With the extra forward out in the final minute in the third period, Panik took a nice pass from Mike Santorelli and snaps a perfect shot past Reto Berra. I was surprised to see Santorelli and Panik out with Kessel in the final minute of the third, down by one, but like the many puns on twitter Panik gave us no reason to panic (sorry I couldn’t resist)!

We got our first taste of three-on-three action when Iginla and Stephane Robidas were sent off after a fight. It was exciting to see three-on-three, but I got worried when Matt Duchene was skating circles around an exhausted Phaneuf during overtime. The game then ended in a shootout where Bernier was unable to stop any of the Avalanche shooters, who all scored.

Quick Game Notes

Phaneuf led the Leafs with 31:07 minutes along with Polak, who played 28:12 minutes.

Also, here is a nice hit from Polak on Gabriel Landeskog