Leafs played well (finally, for 2 periods), made one or two critical mistakes (compounded by some iffy reffing that you'll never hear about from the team), and took an (OT)L. We've played way worse lately and managed to scrape through to victories before, so if you liked those, this is what betting on coin flips feels like.
What I liked:
We didn't sit back on the lead; we did 1-2-2 trap, but we remained aggressive in the OZ when turnovers happened, and we were very quick in-and-out in our own zone for long stretches of the 3rd.
Andersen kept them in the game early as he often does.
Dermott was as advertised; as he gains experience in the NHL and gets accustomed to the players he will be facing, his aggressive reads will get better as he can get a bit overzealous. It's only been 2 games, but he's hovering just under 60% CF% so far. He hasn't played enough minutes to make that a stable number, but I think the plays he regularly makes will bear out as very positive.
What I didn't like:
Transitioning into shutdown mode, Babcock sits Dermott in place of Polak. Polak was having an okay game, but I don't think slow skating auto dumpers are the best way to keep the puck away from the opponents. Brown came in over Nylander with about 4 min to go over Nylander, which I was okay with (Babcock wanted to even out his numbers, and honestly, Brown earned more time).
Rielly got a bit excited on his stretch pass on the change, but flubbed it right along the ice. It's an easy fix and not a routine error for him, so I'm disappointed but not worried.
Marleau, for all the good that he does, honestly stays out a bit too long for my liking at times; A+ for the confidence, but maybe not at the expense of our real offense.
