Halfway through their 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres, the Toronto Maple Leafs were down by two goals to a lesser opponent at home, with Dennis Hildeby giving them untrustworthy goaltending and the offence looking sluggish.
When things looked bleak for Toronto, Nick Robertson and John Tavares combined to score three goals in 2:31, and the Maple Leafs found themselves with a lead.
The scoring dried up for Toronto from there until Tavares scored an empty-netter to secure a hat trick, but the team dominated the play from their offensive outburst on. The Maple Leafs outshot the Sabres 19-7 in the third, defending the lead by posting up in the offensive zone. Even with a slim advantage and a wobbly goaltender, the lead rarely seemed threatened.
It was far from a perfect effort, but Toronto flashed the type of explosiveness and consistent play-driving that has often been absent in recent weeks. The Maple Leafs get an “A-” for their first five-goal effort of December.
Unit grades
L1 (Knies–Matthews–Marner): C
The top unit was quiet even though Auston Matthews spent most of the night on the verge of scoring with five shots, 14 attempts, and 1.16 expected goals. Many of his best looks came on the power play, though, and Mitch Marner didn’t create as much as usual, while Matthew Knies rarely stood out.
Craig Berube put William Nylander with Matthews and Marner for the second half of the game and that loaded line threatened more, but was far from dominant.
L2 (Pacioretty–Tavares–Nylander): B+
Tavares had a big night individually, with his hat trick highlighted by a nice wrister from the slot in the second period.
JOHN TAVARES SCORES AGAIN AND TORONTO TAKES THE LEAD! pic.twitter.com/n3t59QGJpB
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 15, 2024
His other two goals came on a shot that deflected off his shin and the empty net, but they all count the same in the box score.
Nylander also had a couple of chances, and Max Pacioretty’s PP2 minutes resulted in two opportunities in tight, but the second line didn’t do much when they were all together. In their 5:49 the Maple Leafs produced just two shots and had an expected goal rate of 23.18 percent.
The production from Tavares bumps up the grade a bit, as does the fact this line outshot its opposition 8-0 when Nylander was swapped out for Knies.
L3 (McMann–Domi–Robertson): A
Before Sunday, this trio had played just 27:43 together since the beginning of the 2023-24 season and didn’t score a single goal in that time.
In that context, it was surprising to see them look as cohesive and dangerous as they did against the Sabres. The unit scored Toronto’s first goal of the night by capitalizing on turnovers and keeping Buffalo hemmed in its own zone. Domi provided the finish for his first goal since April 22.
Max Domi has his first of the season! pic.twitter.com/KdpaCI7Dii
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 15, 2024
Shortly after Domi just missed scoring his second of the night, the third line produced another goal on a nifty passing play.
Nick Robertson nails the one-timer after drawing back into the Leafs lineup! pic.twitter.com/e7Ep057TeV
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 15, 2024
One of the Maple Leafs’ biggest problems all year has been their inability to find a bottom-six line capable of producing any offence. One big night from this line doesn’t mean the problem is solved, but it has more potential than most third lines Craig Berube has tried.
L4 (Lorentz–Dewar–Reaves): C-
While the new third line was a bit of a revelation, this group didn’t do any narrative-changing work. To their credit, they didn’t spend all night in their own zone, but the Maple Leafs didn’t generate a single shot attempt in their 5:16.
D1 (McCabe–Tanev): B-
The Maple Leafs’ shutdown pair had a rough start to the game as Chris Tanev took an early penalty that led to Buffalo’s first goal, and they were on the ice together for their second.
While they didn’t do anything dramatic to overcome that stumble out of the gate, they were characteristically steady from there on out. The only notable stumble was Tanev’s second penalty with just 13 seconds left, but it didn’t affect the outcome of the game.
D2 (Rielly–Ekman-Larsson): B+
This pairing’s best quality is its ability to provide offensive juice, and that’s what it did against the Sabres. Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson combined for 10 shots on net, with OEL pushing off the point to more dangerous spots on the ice at times.
Although they were on the ice for a goal against, it came on a shot Hildeby probably should’ve stopped, and it’s hard to attribute too much blame to either. At times during the game, Rielly spent time with Philippe Myers and Ekman-Larsson played with Tanev, and their on-ice numbers were better apart.
D3 (Benoit–Myers): B-
This third pair’s limited puck-moving ability showed up at times on Sunday, and at one point they had a nightmare shift of running around in their own zone that lasted over two and a half minutes.
They survived that experience, but like Rielly and Ekman-Larsson, they fared better when split up.
Myers was particularly effective with Rielly as the Maple Leafs outshot the Sabres 10-1 in their minutes. The fill-in defenceman also teed up a couple of heavy shots, but Devon Levi was equal to the challenge.
Power play: A-
There were moments when PP1 seemed to use a lot of time whipping the puck around the perimeter without probing the most dangerous areas of the zone enough, but it was a good night for the power play.
The Maple Leafs controlled the puck well, made several dangerous deflection attempts in tight and finished with one goal to show for their four opportunities.
The unit’s shot total with the man advantage (8) also undersells how much it threatened, as a number of deflections went narrowly wide and Matthews came inches away from picking a corner in the third and rang one off the iron.
Penalty kill: F
The Maple Leafs were on the penalty kill for less than a minute and conceded a goal. That’ll earn you a failing grade.
Goaltender (Hildeby): C-
Hildeby wasn’t digging pucks out of his net constantly like was during his last NHL start, but he was shaky. The 23-year-old was beaten three times on 27 shots, and all of the goals he allowed came on clean midrange looks.
Jack Quinn and Alex Tuch fired off some solid shots, but neither Hildeby nor the Maple Leafs should be OK with those attempts finding the twine. Quinn’s first goal was particularly tough to swallow as Hildeby had plenty of time to square up the shooter and still let it through on the short side.
Welcome back, Jack Quinn. 1-0 PPG #sabrehood #leafsforever pic.twitter.com/KeieRx43h7
— Buffalo Hockey Moments (@SabresPlays) December 15, 2024
What’s next?
The Maple Leafs head to Dallas to face the Stars at 7:30 p.m. Thursday on Sportsnet.
(Photo of Max Domi celebrating his first goal of the season: Nick Turchiaro / Imagn Images)
