Rigamarole - A Foot In The Crease - Episode 3.14

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Over the first thirty games of the regular season, the Maple Leafs have been a very up and down teams. For stretches of time, they have looked average. For other stretches, they have looked downright awful. And sometimes, the Maple Leafs have even looked like a team that is a capable playoff competitor. However, through all of their inconsistency to start the season, one aspect of their game has remained consistent throughout but certainly not in a good way. The Maple Leafs power play has yet to come to life this season and after struggling to no goals on six opportunities Saturday night against Boston, their power play now sits 29th out of 30 teams in the NHL.

Last season, the Maple Leafs power play was not blistering but it was more than acceptable running at 17%, good enough for 16th overall. So with the same players plus the addition of the offensively talented Jason Blake, why can’t the Maple Leafs get rolling on the man advantage?

Darcy Tucker and Bryan McCabe no longer surprise anybody. McCabe’s point shot and Tucker’s office at the side of the net have been the bread and butter of the Leafs power play since the end of the lockout. Teams know it’s coming and are taking it away forcing the Maple Leafs to come up with something new. Problem is, the Maple Leafs haven’t shown us any new ideas.

Instead of looking elsewhere, the Maple Leafs seem content to spend all of their power play time trying to set up one of those two aforementioned options. With neither the Tucker or McCabe option available, this makes it very easy for opponents to kill penalties against the Maple Leafs.

It’s time to simply things: get big bodies to the front of the net and get the puck on goal in hopes of generating rebounds or tip in opportunities. Fancy isn’t working right now, but ugly goals are worth just the same. But hey, all that was just rigamarole.