Quick Shifts: Maple Leafs sure aren’t winning the same way

A quick mix of the things we gleaned from the week of hockey, serious and less so, and rolling four lines deep. Death, taxes, and John Tortorella benching the guy you paid to see.

1. Now that the Toronto Maple Leafs have tilted to the winning side of the ledger, found a dependable starting goalie, and resurrected their power play from 32nd place with a scorching 6-for-10 run, everything is solved.

Sort of.

Remarkably, the Maple Leafs have secured five of a possible six points in the standings this week without beating a goaltender at even-strength.

“Thanks for pointing that out,” defenceman Morgan Rielly said in his wonderful trademark deadpan, dripping with friendly sarcasm.

“We’re just chipping away. We tried to get our power play figured out. Now we’ll circle back and get the five-on-five going.”

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It’s always something, isn’t it?

Can’t the Leafs just enjoy nice things, like beating up on a couple division rivals without Auston Matthews in the lineup?

We’re not concluding that the Leafs are worse off for relying less on five-on-five production. But they are different.

In 2023-24, Toronto was the only franchise to score 200 times at five-on-five.

The Leafs have finished top two in that category in six of the eight full seasons during the Matthews-Marner-Nylander era and never lower than eighth.

Even-strength scoring has long been a staple of this team’s identity.

Now? Under coach Craig Berube?

Not so much — yet.

The Leafs are on pace for 164 five-on-five goals this season, a 36-goal (18 per cent) decline from last season and a middle-of-the-pack rate.

“We didn’t generate a lot offensively, not a lot of clean plays. We grinded in the offensive zone. Had some real good O-zone shifts where we had the puck and were competing and hanging on,” Berube said Friday night, when his group got by on power play and goaltending.

“You’re gonna have games like that. So, it was great by the guys — just hanging in there and not opening it up, not exposing anything.”

Unless you drafted Leafs to your fantasy squad, those even-strength goals won’t be missed, provided they’re this stingy defensively, receive stud goaltending, and the power play keeps its momentum going.

There’s more than one path to success. And with the Maple Leafs’ depth goals drying up — only four forwards have four or more goals — they’re going a different route for now.

Heck, defence first might just be a better option: Treat goals like a bonus instead of assuming they’ll just show up when the games tighten up.

2. Some much deserved love for the Winnipeg Jets, shall we?

The strictest skeptic might point to the nine non-playoff teams on their first-month schedule or their seventh-best PDO (101.9), but there is no denying that the NHL’s first-place team is also its best right now.

The Jets are a wagon.

En route to becoming just the second team in history to win 13 of its first 14 games, the Jets lead all 32 in goals per game (4.5) and goals against per game (2.14). No wonder their goals differential is a ridiculous plus-33.

Ten Jets skaters have already posted double digits in the points column, and Connor Hellebuyck (.932) just posted back-to-back shutouts for the first time in his career.

Captain Adam Lowry sets the tone for the best third line in hockey, Nikolaj Ehlers is playing the best hockey of his life, and Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey are skating their way into the Team Canada’s roster debates

Is Winnipeg’s eye-popping .929 winning percentage or (*double-checks for accuracy*) 42.1 per cent power-play success sustainable?

No. But who cares?

Despite playing in the West’s toughest division, the Jets have built themselves an 11-point cushion between them and the playoff cut line before Remembrance Day. A start this hot means they can withstand cold stretches down the road without much worry.

Rookie coach Scott Arniel has this group dialled in, as evidenced by the Jets’ hardworking effort in Thursday’s 1-0 blanking of nemesis Colorado, the team that ended their 2023-24.

Winnipeg became the first club all season to keep Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar off the score sheet.

Heck, even attendance at Canada Life Centre has seen a modest uptick — to an average of 13,581 fans and above 90 per cent capacity — over last season.

“It feels incredible right now,” Hellebuyck told the home crowd. “I think we’re showing we can win every single way. We have the offence. We have the defence. We’re clickin’ on all cylinders right now.”

3. Barry Trotz makes a weekly radio appearance on Nashville sports station 102.5 The Game, a tradition inherited from Hall of Famer David Poile.

These regular GM catchups typically stay local. But one of Trotz’s lines — “If we don’t get it going, then I’m going to start our rebuild plan” — took on a life of its own.

Having won the off-season Stanley Cup, scooping three of the market’s premier free agents and adding two 40-goal-scoring past champions, Trotz’s Predators have been this season’s biggest disappointment through the 14-game mark.

And their short-term schedule features a whack of heavy hitters.

With no U2 concert to cancel, Trotz is trying to send a jolt through a reconfigured room desperate for chemistry.

If the impatient GM does decide to sell this season, cutting to the core — most of which is over 30 and locked in until 2027-28 with some degree of trade protection — feels like a long shot.

Rental targets like veteran scorer Gustav Nyquist and right-shot defenceman Dante Fabro could fetch futures via trade and open ice time for Milwaukee Admirals, but Trotz will have a difficult time orchestrating anything resembling a blockbuster in-season.

4. Quote of the Week.

“Frustration plays tricks on you. Frustration makes you think you’re working when you’re not working. Frustration actually makes you a poor teammate. Frustration is contagious.” — Andrew Brunette, head coach of the 4-9-1 Nashville Predators

5. Tyler Johnson not only bided his time throughout training camp, but he waited nearly a month into the Boston Bruins’ up-and-down regular season before finally inking a $775,000 contract with the club that invited him to try out.

The Little PTO That Could.

“I mean, it wasn’t the most fun experience, of course, but I am here now, so it’s all worth it,” said the patient 34-year-old. “I truly hate watching hockey, so for me to watch that long and not be a part of it, it’s tough. So, it’s nice to be back.”

The veteran took solace in that he was able to practise with the B’s during his prolonged, unpaid tryout, and that Boston executives maintained communication with him throughout his extra workouts and self-imposed bag skates.

The undrafted, five-foot-eight Johnson — a firm believer in his own abilities who got here the hard way — says he never once doubted that he wouldn’t play for the Bruins this season.

“I wanted to be a part of a team that had expectations to try to win. That was the biggest thing for me, and the Boston organization is just top-notch and class,” Johnson said. “The very first day I was in here, you can see the professionalism from top to bottom. And it just kind of really felt good, really felt like just at home. And ever since that first day I got here, I knew I wanted to be here.”

After two-and-a-half seasons with rebuilding Chicago, it’s clear the former Lightning wants to be in a winning environment. Granted the Bruins have stumbled early, but Johnson sees similarities in the culture of the two Atlantic powers.

“Everyone has that same expectation that we have to win. We want to win. We’re going to do whatever we can. And I think that goes a long ways, when you have that. So, I would say it’s very similar in that aspect,” he explains. “Just hearing the conversations and the way that guys prepared for everything really made it feel comfortable.”

Coach Jim Montgomery is a fast fan. He waited one game to promote Johnson to David Pastrnak’s top line.

“Energy. Poise. Wisdom. And game management,” Montgomery says of the newest Bruin. “Another veteran voice who’s won a couple Cups.”

6. About Pastrnak…

If Montgomery ranks No. 1 among those wearing the weight of Boston’s atypically underwhelming (7-7-1) first month, the super sniper appears to be No. 2.

The former benched the latter for a full period as punishment for poor puck management — in a Bruins win, no less. The ice-time tax came during Pastrnak’s six-game goal drought, which carries into the weekend.

Yes, Pastrnak notched a couple nice assists in Thursday’s high-wire OT win over Calgary, but he was quiet in Toronto, his first game post-benching, and has looked very un-Pasta-like on several sequences this season.

I could not believe the 60-goal man did not shoot this puck, for example:

Both characters in this unfinished story are treating the benching like water under the bridge. And yet, both appear less than confident than in Novembers past, and they need each other to dig out of this mess.

“Yesterday was yesterday. I never look back,” Pastrnak said. “That was a bad turnover. I take responsibility for it. Accountability is a better word. I just want to move forward. I don’t want to be any distraction to our team. The guys know how I feel about them. It was a bad play.”

Montgomery praises the quality of leadership in his room for allowing him to dish out tough love without lingering resentment.

“The way I deal with it, there’s a great poem. It’s called Yesterday Today and Tomorrow,” the coach explained. He draws a parallel between his mental approach to sobriety and getting his players through their own challenges.

“It’s a lot what I believe in our team: You only control the present. If you worry about the past and dwell on the past, it brings up worry and anxiety — or contentment, depending what you’re thinking about,” Montgomery said.

“If you worry about the future, which you don’t control? Well, then you’re really going to have anxiety. So, that’s where my mindset goes. And with the struggles I’ve had personally, that poem really reinforced what I need to worry about — which is the next 24 hours. And that’s the way I live my life.”

7. In 10 days, Patrick Kane will celebrate his 36th birthday on a flight home from San Jose, likely after another 19 minutes’ worth of work he pours into the Red Wings’ top six.

Arguably the greatest U.S.-born player, Kane will soon cruise past benchmarks like 1,250 games played and 1,300 points scored.

Much thanks to the hip-resurfacing procedure that rejuvenated his career and helped keep the winger near a point-per-game pace in Detroit.

Yes, Kane’s contract expires on June 30 — but that doesn’t mean he sees a finish line.

“For me, it’s like, you don’t want to stop playing, right? So, play as long as you can,” Kane said Friday in the Scotiabank Arena’s visitors’ stall.

His friend-slash-recruiter, Alex DeBrincat, who’s a decade younger, piped up from one stall over: “Fifty?”

“That would be probably not possible,” Kane said with a smile. “I’m 35. Turn 36 in a couple weeks here. So, keep playing as long as you can, right? Especially when you still enjoy it. That’s kind of where I’m at now. Just take it year by year.”

Kane sits just 82 points shy of Mike Modano’s points record (1,374) as the highest-scoring American-born NHLer of all-time.

If the desire — and health — is there to sign up for 2025-26, we say he does it.

8. On the backplate of Anthony Stolarz’s glimmering goalie mask — designed by expert David “DaveArt” Gunnarsson — is a simple mantra in all caps: PROVE PEOPLE WRONG.

“There’s always going to be people that doubt you. It’s been like that for everybody. People don’t want us to succeed, and it’s up to us to battle through that and come out on top,” the Maple Leafs’ 1B-turned-1A explained to reporters this week.

Though Stolarz has been sporting that message for about eight years — ever since Gunnarsson began designing his masks — his proving-doubters-wrong-per-60 has shot through the roof since signing in Toronto. (Think I can’t stop a puck with my bare hand? Think again.)

That said, Stolarz goes about his business free of malice. He’s an affable guy that has quickly endeared himself to his new teammates through his personality as well as his play.

The other slogan painted on his mask is a classic quote from the Vince Vaughan/Owen Wilson movie Wedding Crashers: RULE #76: NO EXCUSES, PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION.

“Just something funny. It was one of my favourite movies growing up, and I just thought it would be something cool to put on there,” said Stolarz, who isn’t one to lean on excuses.

“No one else is going to feel sorry for you. You’re the one that’s out there.”

9. The San Jose Sharks — still firmly in rebuild mode — should begin to consider trading one of their veteran goalies — Vitek Vanecek, 28, or Mackenzie Blackwood, 27 — currently sharing the net.

Both are on expiring deals. Both are stopping the puck around a league average rate. Perhaps Mike Grier is simply waiting for a good team to get hit with a goaltending injury, because there should be a move to be made here within the next few months.

Prospect Yaroslav Askarov has two more years on his deal than the veterans above him and is positioned to be the guy.

While surprisingly waived to start the season, Askarov is off to another fantastic start in the AHL (5-1, .950).

Let’s graduate him from the Barracuda sooner rather than later.

10. The New York Islanders (6-6-2) rubbed two wins together this week to climb to .500, but the league’s fourth-oldest roster lacks the depth to be considered a contender.

Lou Lamoriello can be patient for a while. Maybe he can bank on a hot streak and a surprise run at a wild-card berth. But at some point, the status quo won’t be enough. And the GM already pulled a fire-the-coach card last season.

It’s high time for turnover, so we’re already circling the Isles as a seller to watch at the 2025 trade deadline

The easiest place to start would be with veteran forwards on expiring deals: 33-year-olds Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri have already combined for 11 goals and fit the profile on savvy rental pickups for contenders.

Particularly Nelson, who would be a rare proven centreman and a hot commodity should Lamoriello eventually wave the white flag.

Understanding that both players hold 16-team no-trade clauses, they’re in the back half of their careers. So, too is 34-year-old captain and power forward Anders Lee, who has this season and one more on his deal.

Surely, it must be sinking in that their chances to win a Stanley Cup are shrinking — and may never be realized if they remain on Long Island, where Lamoriello has spent to the cap on a fading roster that is working hard to be middle-of-the-pack.

11. A healthy Thatcher Demko would doubtlessly have taken a run at Team USA’s starting job.

Even though he’s back on the ice taking shots and the 4 Nations Face-Off isn’t for three months, there’s no chance the Americans or the Canucks risk putting him on the national roster.

“I think he’s been out with, what is it, a hip?” U.S. general manager Bill Guerin told Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com. “Look at the position he plays. He’s not going to have the number of games the other guys have. And we have the depth.

“Why would we chance it?”

Also: Why would Vancouver chance it?

Yes, the Canucks are getting excellent goaltending from Kevin Lankinen, but they’re holding hope Demko can contribute, so why put more stress on his plate.

Three American starters — Hellebuyck, Stolarz, and Jake Oettinger — have a save percentage of .922 or better this season. And Jeremy Swayman is still, uh, holding out hope to earn a spot.

12. Cool moment Thursday evening as 18-year-old Macklin Celebrini, the NHL’s youngest player, scored a beautiful goal on 39-year-old Marc-André Fleury, the NHL’s oldest player.

Just a couple of first-overall picks separated by 21 draft classes and a puck flying about 21 centimetres clean past the blocker.

“Alexa, play ‘Circle of Life,’ by Elton John.”