Friday FTB: someone remind the Leafs about the Corsi Wars

Last night, the Leafs only took 15 shots on net against the LA Kings in a 4-3 overtime loss at home. 15 shots on goal is the fewest the Leafs have had in a game since January 2017 – a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils. The Leafs scored four in a flurry in the first period (Matthews, Kadri, Bozak, Brown) and then literally coasted to the buzzer.

John Tavares scored twice, and Bobby McMann scored as well. The Leafs had the lead twice in this game, but the record low shot total wasn't a consequence of taking their foot off the gas. Their feet were never near the gas as they took 4 shots in the first and second periods, and then a whopping 7 in the third when the game was tied.

The Leafs had one power play in this game, the Kings had two. No one took a penalty in the second half of the game. Oh, and in case you missed it, Auston Matthews didn't play and won't for about a week.

The fourth line last year was penciled in as the second line for this game, but they played less than Nic Roy's line who played 18 minutes. Tavares' first line played over 21 minutes up front and were the only line not to get completely hammered in shots as they almost broke even. Roy's line did pleasently well in xG against the Kopitar-Kempe line while Tavares held off the Byfield-Fiala line. The Lorentz line was unplayable – they recorded zero shot attempts.

This is what the Leafs shots trend looks like this year. It's been going down and has dropped below 44% over their last 10 games. To their credit, expected goals is better. Their shooting is buoying their results and goaltending is almost respectable. But, man, they are absent in the offensive zone.

Cathy shared this in the GDT and I think it's worth repeating here. The Leafs are a black hole offensively when up by one goal. In their hay day they were upwards of +20% danger according to HockeyViz. As recently as two seasons ago they were +13%. Last year it was +5% and this year it's an astonishing -41%. Their offense when up by one is the worst in the league, the only teams close are the Dallas and San Jose. Only one of those two surprised me.

Bobby McMann scores first for the Leafs 🚨 pic.twitter.com/G1AhRa7d5C
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 14, 2025

John Tavares makes it 2-0 🚨 pic.twitter.com/giA6zCdTKp
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 14, 2025

Warren Foegele cuts the Leafs lead in half pic.twitter.com/SPTpsjjgeE
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 14, 2025

Kevin Fiala ties it pic.twitter.com/fh7Hd0T1bV
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 14, 2025

John Tavares regains the lead 🚨 pic.twitter.com/REjeD0h06n
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 14, 2025

Alex Laferriere ties it pic.twitter.com/LUuEIECQa9
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 14, 2025

Quinton Byfield wins the game pic.twitter.com/DWT6JSjSho
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 14, 2025

A bright side.

David Kämpf and the Leafs are done.

Here is what Berube said pregame.

And then postgame. Here's what I could transcribe from his opening quote. But it's right here for you to listen to as well.

"We gotta make a play to get out of the zone and we didn't do a good job of it. We sat back a little too much. (Not) advancing that puck up the ice with speed, jumping, getting into holes. It's confidence for me a little bit, and puck play. Plays are there, we're not making them, we're not seeing it well enough right now, but we gotta pick up our pace. We gotta be more confident in those plays."

He also touched on a lack of offense leads to more time on defense, so even if he said he liked how they defended, presumably they had to defend way too much because the team is massively struggling to play with the puck. However, he still said the most important thing to work on is the defensive play right now.

I think they could use Ben Danford back there. And Jake Gardiner. and Cale Makar.

ECHL players have been working without a contract since June. The PHPA has written an update on where things stand. Their demands are mandatory rest periods and fair wages based on revenue.