Posting this again.
"The Leafs generated the least amount of scoring chances (13) and the least amount of high danger scoring chances (5) among any team in any game so far in the playoffs."
This is 5-on-5. In our game, we played 1/3 of the game either on the PP or on the PK. We also did not play in OT, while a lot of other teams did. In terms of rates, it is 7th worst in SCF and 12th worst in terms of HDCF. There were some really good teams on that list, and surprisingly teams won more than they lost despite that.
And before people say this is a consistent trend. In the past 3 years, this is only the 4th game out of 13 games where we were below 50% in HDCF% and 5th game below 50% SCF% at 5-on-5. Many of our performances the past three years would have put us around average, if not above it, compared to games played this year in terms of HDCF/60 and SCF/60... And we played two tight checking teams that were known for their defensive play. A lot of games this year have been really sloppy so chances have been higher so the fact we are even average given those two factors is fairly impressive.
We were also above 50% for xGF% and were above average in that regard based on the games played this year. We have only been below 50% 4 times. 7th time we've had a SH% below 5% at 5-on-5 though, so that is the thing that has really hindered us. Part of that is finish and part of that is also goaltending. We are not having much trouble generating chances at 5-on-5 in general though, and it wasn't like Montreal was doing much better in that regard either.
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Now let's take a look at PP (out of 44 total entries; 22 games, 2 teams each)
8th best performance in terms of HDCF/60 so far. 6th best in SCF/60. 8th in xGF/60. Top 3 in all of those categories in the 13 games we've played in the past 3 years too. Maybe we didn't make Price work as hard at 5-on-5 as we would have liked, but we had to make him work really hard on the PK. Montreal was around dead middle in both categories on the PP. Main thing was we made a stupid error that cost us and, as usual, we need to convert. Only 5 PP GF in 13 games the past 3 years (and now 1 GA).
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Conversion is not an issue for us in the regular season, but is in the playoffs, even though we still get our fair share of chances and generally do better than the other team in that regard. Goalies make big saves against us and we hit the post or miss the net. We've also had games where our goalie could not keep us in the game by making basic saves. I won't blame Campbell too much on that game winner because ultimately it was fairly flukey (although he probably should not have gone for the poke check) and Sandin/Thornton deserve a lot more blame for making it happen in the first place, but far too often we lose these close games because of something like that. Ultimately that comes down to the players to figure out, because there is not much Dubas, Keefe, or any other GM/coach is going to do to fix whatever "unclutch" ability some of our guys have.
In the end it is one game and I think most people anticipated there would be at least one game where the Habs would have a lot of things go their way and steal it. I think many hoped it wouldn't be the first game, but it is nothing the Leafs should be getting in their heads about because that will only make them do worse. There were a lot of positives to take from that game and from a pure luck standpoint I don't think it could have been much worse for us. Habs missed some golden opportunities too but they had the Byron goal work out and a few big Price saves that were the difference. Of course that is on top of losing Tavares (core player/center/captain) and having to shuffle the lines for 5/6's of the game.
