Toronto Maple Leafs Reveal Their Biggest Priority During the 4 Nations Face-Off
The Toronto Maple Leafs enter the 4 Nations Face-Off break with solid momentum, but Craig Berube has identified a critical area that needs improvement and it's the penalty kill.
While Berube said the team's overall play and the progress on the power play was very good, he emphasized that being better in penalty kill will be essential for the final stretch of the 2024-25 NHL season.
Now, there are other areas. Our power play has improved dramatically, in my opinion.
They are creating momentum, even if they are not scoring. We were pretty good on the penalty kill this trip, but we are giving up goals lately on our penalty kill, and we have to tighten it up, for sure. When we get back playing again, it is going to be a grind.
March is a really busy month. It is going to be a grind and a hard push. It is a very competitive league, and there are a lot of teams that are in it."
What does the stats say about the Toronto Maple Leafs penalty kill?
Early in the season, Toronto's penalty kill was one of the league's best and was ranking 6th at 86% efficiency as of November 6.
However, their penalty kill percentage is now at 79.88% and is placing them 13th in the NHL.
More concerning is their recent stretch is that Toronto has allowed 11 power-play goals in their last 11 games compared to 15 goals in the first 23 games.
Toronto's 426 penalty minutes rank them 22nd in the league, but they're 25th in drawing penalties and 17th in taking them and despite ranking 22nd with only 9 major penalties, the Leafs' frequent minor infractions is killing them.
This has resulted in Toronto playing the 5th most minutes shorthanded at 3v5 and is often due to rapid penalties in succession.
With a packed March schedule ahead, the Leafs will need to cut their goal accorded during their penalty kill to stay competitive.
