NEW YORK — The Toronto Maple Leafs had 22 shots in the first period, 17 shots in the second and 17 in the third period for a grand total of 56 in their 4-1 loss to the Rangers on Sunday.
They only scored on one of them.
"I would say we had the puck the majority of the time," Toronto head coach Mike Babcock noted post game. "Obviously, we had quality, quality chances. I thought their goaltender had a good night and we missed lots of opportunity. …
"Sometimes you still want two and their goalie plays real good and he steals you a game. Probably over a long season, it evens out, it doesn't make you feel any better on the night, but that's the way it is."
That goalie was Alexandar Georgiev. The netminder — who turned 23 on Sunday — stoned the Maple Leafs on countless chances including Auston Matthews and John Tavares on the doorstep during a Leafs power play in the first period.
"I think it was the best we’ve been, probably the most looks we’ve had all year, really," Tavares said regarding a power play that now has just one goal in their last 18 opportunities since the bye week.
"Just got to capitalize on finishing. Certainly, good to get some movement, puck movement, being in sync like that, getting pucks to the net, retrieving pucks. We were sharp, just like I said, just need the end result."
The Leafs were definitely sharp with the man advantage, putting 23 shots on net over the course of four opportunities. On Saturday night, Toronto had the man advantage three times, but only mustered three shots on net.
"We talked about what we wanted to do and how we wanted to execute," said Nazim Kadri regarding a pre-game team meeting to discuss the power play. "It was important to all get on the same page in terms of execution. Just all kind of putting our two cents in, giving our opinions and what we think we need to improve on.
"I think that was one of the better power-play games we've seen in a while and then they're going to start to go in."
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Considering the star power on this Maple Leafs roster — Matthews, Tavares, Morgan Rielly and Mitch Marner to name a few — it's shocking they have only converted on 20 percent of their power-play chances, 16th-best in the NHL.
"We know how much skill we have in this group," said Marner. "It’s just more about calming down, I think we did that tonight. We calmed down when we had the puck in our hands. On the breakouts we calmed down as well, we just read the play a little better. That’s what we’ve got to continue doing on this road trip and going forward."
The Leafs head to Denver for game three of a six-game road trip. However, the power play did not fair well facing the Avalanche, Golden Knights, Coyotes and Blues at Scotiabank Arena. They were scoreless on eight combined chances.