Five Takeaways - Leafs at Canucks - 12/02/17

1. Canucks score game's first two goals as Leafs look flat in opening period.The Leafs were on a two-game win streak as they took on the Canucks in the final game of a Western Canadian road trip, and Toronto fell into some old, unfortunate habits in the first 20 minutes of action in Vancouver. The Buds were outshot 17-11 in the first frame, lost many of the puck battles and surrendered the first and only two goals of the period.
The first goal for the home side came from centre Markus Granlund, whose slap shot beat Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen for his fourth of the season at the 4:52 mark; the second came from blueliner Alex Edler, who netted his first of the year at 11:14. Toronto didn't look especially in sync before the first intermission, and Canucks netminder Jacob Markstrom was solid when he had to be.

2. Toronto puts in improved effort in second, but can't generate any offence through 40 minutes. Toronto wasn't a fully-engaged group to start the night, but their performance in the second period was much-improved. For one thing, the Leafs limited Vancouver to just three shots on Andersen in the frame and drastically cut down on the quality of scoring chances the Canucks had. For another thing, they fired another 13 shots on Markstrom, and had four players - centres Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri, winger William Nylander, and defenceman Morgan Rielly - with three shots apiece. However, no Leafs player was able to solve Markstrom through 40 minutes, and Vancouver held their 2-0 lead entering the final regulation period.

While it was good to see the Leafs tighten up play and turn the tables on the Canucks, they needed someone to finish scoring chances. And through two periods, that didn't happen.

3. Leafs register first goal via van Riemsdyk deflection, cut Canucks' lead in half late in third.The Leafs again limited the Canucks' scoring chances in the first half of the third period and handily outshot them in that span, yet still couldn't produce any goals. Vancouver picked things up on the offensive end of things in the second half of the third, but they were still outshot by Toronto 11-6 in the final 20 minutes and needed everything Markstrom had to secure the win.

Toronto did eventually get on the scoreboard with 2:52 remaining when winger James van Riemsdyk deflected a shot from D-man Morgan Rielly for his team-leading 14th goal of the year, and that added an increased degree of urgency for the final minutes as the Buds continued pressing and seeking the tying marker.
4. Markstrom fights off traffic in front, Canucks limit follow-up scoring chances to secure win.Leafs head coach Mike Babcock pulled Andersen for the final 2:12 of regulation time and Toronto spent much of those final seconds in Vancouver's zone, but Markstrom was positionally sound and read plays well despite a good deal of traffic in front of his net. And if the game had've had an additional five minutes left, the Buds would've been a good bet to get the tie, but they ran out of room and their record fell to 17-10-1 this season.

For the final two periods, Toronto was the better, more aggressive team, but Vancouver relied on Markstrom's consistency, a good number of icings, and a defence corps that did well in collapsing in front of him to hang on for the victory.

5. Buds win two of three on Western Canadian road swing, but don't lack for areas in which they need to improve.Although the Leafs took two of three games on their trip through Western Canada, there were areas in which they still need to improve. And they'll have a full three days off before their next game Wednesday against Calgary at Air Canada Centre to break down video of this one and focus on areas of improvement.

Once again, starts to games could be considered one of those areas, and limiting the number of shots on Andersen would be another. While it's true Toronto did a better job of that in beating Calgary (holding the Flames to just 20 shots in a 4-1 win Nov. 28) and in the final two periods against the Canucks (holding Vancouver to only nine shots in that span), they still allowed 45 shots to the Oilers Nov. 30 and the 17 shots the Canucks had in the first was too many by any standard.
With the Flames coming into Toronto seeking revenge - and their subsequent game against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins on Saturday in Pittsburgh - the Leafs will need to play much more like the team they were in the second and third frames against the Canucks, and much less like the one they were in the first period.