Photo credit: Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

Leafs head coach Craig Berube called out his power play units following another dismal performance Saturday night and revealed the solution to the problem.

The Leafs went 0-for-4 during their 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues Saturday night, marking the fifth straight game they have gone without scoring a power play goal. With the Leafs currently operating at a league-worst 7.9%, many have asked if Marc Savard is already on the hot seat for his role in running the power play.

The issue that many fans and analysts are noting is that the players on the power play units are not being selfish enough as evidenced by Mitch Marner passing off on clear cut scoring opportunities instead of shooting on an open net against the Boston Bruins last weekend.

 

Although Savard is responsible for the power play, Craig Berube may want to take control of the units, even if only temporarily. Following Saturday’s loss, Berube himself admitted everyone on both units are being too selfless and need to start shooting more.

 

“For me it’s execution, to be honest with you. But the other thing is there’s not a directness to it. We’re not getting pucks to the net enough. We’re on the power play. We need to shoot pucks more. We need to get pucks to the net and create opportunities around the net on broken plays. But we’re not. There’s not a shot mentality on the power play right now.”
 

 

The Leafs power play woes date back to the end of February last season. After operating at 50% for the month of April, the Leafs’ power play imploded. How bad has it been? Prior their game against Boston last weekend, they had gone just 13 for 121 since February 27th, including the playoffs.

The Leafs won’t have much time to regroup and figure out their issues, however, as they are in Minnesota on Sunday to take on the Wild.