DENVER — Max Domi insists that as the goals didn’t come for him and Tyler Bertuzzi throughout January and most of February, the two friends and Toronto Maple Leafs teammates never panicked. They might have made a few jokes about their poor puck luck.
“That’s all you can do, right?” Domi said, shrugging his shoulders. “You’re hitting a post here, you’re missing an empty net there, you start being like, ‘Really? When’s it going to go in?’ But all you can really do is just keep shooting it, keep getting the puck on net and having fun.”
But scoring just seven goals through 55 games coming into Saturday’s game hasn’t always looked like fun for Bertuzzi. Signed to a one-year $5.5-million deal this summer, the former 30-goal scorer and most notable Leafs offseason acquisition was expected to ease the burden of production felt by Toronto’s core forwards. Not two weeks ago, coach Sheldon Keefe called out Bertuzzi’s play as — to that point — he had gone 18 games without a goal. The Leafs were in desperate need of secondary scoring all along.
“As I’ve discussed with him, he’s got to work at his game,” Keefe said on Feb. 14. “Quite honestly, it’s not just a this season thing, it’s last season as well. His pace is not a whole lot different than where he was a season ago. You’re trying to get him back closer to the 30-goal Bertuzzi, but we haven’t been able to do that.”
It felt like the pressure on Bertuzzi, at least on the outside, had hit a boiling point.
And yet inside the dressing room, Domi insists his new linemate and friend wasn’t stressing in the slightest.
“Whatever you guys talk about in the media does not faze us one bit because most of us do not read it,” Domi said. “You can’t ride that roller coaster. I don’t think (Bertuzzi) would have had a clue, I had no clue about (the discussion surrounding Bertuzzi). Every guy supports each other in here and that’s all you can do.”
Domi knew Bertuzzi would find his way out of his funk. Domi broke out, after all, with his first two-goal game as a Leaf just days earlier against the Vegas Golden Knights.
David Kämpf knew it, too.
“A player like (Bertuzzi), he’s always going to find the back of the net. It’s just a matter of time, right?” Kämpf said.
As Jake McCabe said days earlier: “Confidence can be fleeting in this league.” But as it turns out, Bertuzzi never lost his.
“I’ve just tried to be positive, work hard and (know) that eventually things will come. Just tried to slowly build confidence and hopefully, it will all work out,” Bertuzzi said.
On Saturday things really worked out. His hat trick in a 4-3 win against the Colorado Avalanche wasn’t just the sign of a player putting a scoring slump to bed. If his performance is a sign of things to come, a re-energized and productive Bertuzzi could end up propelling the Leafs through the final stretch of this season.
“Watch how much (Bertuzzi) gets hot now,” Domi said, raising his eyes knowingly.
Bertuzzi didn’t have the best start to the Leafs’ four-game road trip, generating a combined two five-on-five shot attempts against the St. Louis Blues and Arizona Coyotes. His on-ice five-on-five expected goals never rose above 31 percent in a four-game stretch between Feb. 15 and Feb. 21.
Around Bertuzzi, everything has been clicking for this Leafs team during the road trip. They’re playing like a high-octane but reliable outfit in a way they haven’t all season. The two defence pairs of McCabe-Simon Benoit and TJ Brodie-Timothy Liljegren have consistently elevated their game. The secondary production is coming from the likes of Domi, Bobby McMann and Pontus Holmberg. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner are clicking and scoring as prominently as they ever have as Leafs. After being placed on waivers less than two months ago, Ilya Samsonov looks in control of the net. And Keefe himself is pushing his team and making smart decisions behind the bench.
The final piece of the puzzle was Bertuzzi finding the back of the net.
And sometimes, as evidenced against the Avalanche, the floodgates can burst open quickly.
Bertuzzi scoring two goals would have been a story on its own, sure. But with his first hat trick since October 14, 2021, Bertuzzi emphatically shoved that final puzzle piece onto the table.
Coming back from being down 2-0 to tie the score against the 2022 Stanley Cup champions was undoubtedly part of what fuelled Bertuzzi’s roar after he scored his second goal of the game. But as he pumped his fist, you could also sense him chucking the proverbial monkey off his back and deep into the Ball Arena stands as well.
TYLER BERTUZZI 🚨🚨
TIE GAME! pic.twitter.com/xHc720g2Ro
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 25, 2024
His third goal — the game winner against a strong Avalanche team — didn’t just speak to a player breaking out of a scoring drought. It propelled the Leafs to a seven-game winning streak, their longest since the 2003-04 season.
“(Bertuzzi) is the kind of player you win with,” Domi said. “He’s the kind of player you want on your team.”
You’re never going to hear a lot from Bertuzzi publicly. He’s not the most ardent fan of speaking to the media. But behind the scenes, teammates insist he has seamlessly adapted to this Leafs team.
And with the support of those teammates, Bertuzzi continued to believe the goals would come.
“(Bertuzzi) kept a good attitude. Some guys can get frustrated and start to worry about themselves more than their teammates. But being a good teammate all the way through, everyone kept rooting for him,” McMann said.
While Bertuzzi undoubtedly deserves credit for continually creating chances and keeping his self-belief high, Keefe also deserves praise for backing his player and giving him the opportunities to find his game. Bertuzzi started taking reps on the first power play unit against the Anaheim Ducks on Feb. 17 to get increased looks at the goal.
Bertuzzi has stayed in that role with John Tavares moving to the second unit.
“Obviously we’ve increased his opportunity to get even more of those types of looks,” Keefe said. “But I’m thrilled for him. These are the kind of goals that we’ve come to expect from him through his career and I think I talked about it a couple of weeks ago before it even started going in, I believe this guy is a gamer.”
TYLER BERTUZZI 🎩🎩🎩
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! THIS IS YOUR MOMENT! pic.twitter.com/jViC61rwzx
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 25, 2024
Two of Bertuzzi’s goals against the Avalanche would come on the power play.
“I’m thrilled for (Bertuzzi) because he’s fought it for a while and it hasn’t fallen for him. For them to start going in, it’s a great sign,” Keefe said.
So if, in a best-case scenario, Bertuzzi can start finding the net more regularly as he did against the Avalanche, what could that mean for the Leafs?
First, more goals from Bertuzzi on the power play could give Keefe more options with the man advantage at playoff time. The Leafs’ power play faltered in 2022 in their seven-game series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, firing at just 14.3 percent.
The goals Bertuzzi scored saw him largely banging home pucks from in tight. These are more of the type of goals that feel more common in the playoffs, too.
TYLER BERTUZZI 🚨
100TH NHL GOAL! pic.twitter.com/K9ugMuOGMM
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 25, 2024
And if Bertuzzi can sustain his production alongside Domi and William Nylander, it could also allow Keefe to keep Tavares and his inevitable production on the third line. Spreading out the team’s scorers across three lines could make the Leafs a more difficult team to defend against.
In the short term, more goals from Bertuzzi could simply provide even more self-assurance. He didn’t just contribute on the score sheet against the Avalanche, but defensively as well with multiple key blocks.
Bertuzzi stops a tap-in pic.twitter.com/iRfENDswTW
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) February 25, 2024
That’s only going to help a team trying to climb up the Atlantic Division standings. The Leafs themselves certainly aren’t short on confidence right now, as evidenced by the constant smiles and buoyant chatter heard postgame.
Bertuzzi likely never lost his confidence, and now the Leafs could benefit.
“(Bertuzzi) is going to do all he can,” Keefe said, “to come through for us.”
— Stats via Natural Stat Trick
(Photo: Michael Martin / NHLI via Getty Images)
