The latest Toronto Maple Leafs skid has seen the team drop to third place in the Atlantic division. They’re four points behind the Boston Bruins now with a single game in hand. The Montreal Canadiens are right on their tails only three points behind. A loss tonight to the Canadiens and the Maple Leafs will be flirting with a wild card spot. Yet despite this recent slump, things are looking good for the Maple Leafs as they enter the stretch run.
Toronto Maple Leafs Skid Just a Blip
Shots Fired
The Maple Leafs had won six of their last seven games before dropping the last three. That one loss in seven came against the New York Rangers. If you remember that game, the Maple Leafs had 56 shots on net against Alexandar Georgiev. It was an anomaly of a game. Although the shot-happy official shot keepers of Madison Square Gardens probably exaggerated those totals, the Maple Leafs played well and deserved to win that game.
It’s been that way for the Maple Leafs at times this season. They’re heavy on offence, but once in a while, the shots just don’t go in for them. It’s not from lack of trying. The NHL is a difficult league. Even the worst team is full of good players and can win on any given night. This isn’t the NBA where winning 70 games is plausible and losing 70 is as well. When teams have 23-man rosters, it’s hard for any team to dominate consistently. The depth just isn’t there and it only takes a couple favourable matchups for a team that’s supposed to lose to take advantage and steal a win. Especially if they happen to have a goalie that’s having a career night.
If you just ran and compared the NHL’s current standings to the NBA’s, the Tampa Bay Lightning are the exception, not the norm.
Three In a Row
The Maple Leafs have been a little snake bit at times. Look how long it took Nazem Kadri to get going at the beginning of the season. He was probably having nightmares about goal posts until December. They’ve also played a couple stinkers to be sure. The game against the Arizona Coyotes, the first of these latest three losses, was one of those games. That game wasn’t a shocker though. The Maple Leafs are known to play down to their opponent, something that they won’t have to deal with in the playoffs. They still have time to buck that trend as well with 22 games left to play. They were also coming off two big wins against talented teams, and who knows, maybe they had a bit of a Las Vegas hangover.
The next two games were against bigger teams in the St. Louis Blues, and Washington Capitals. The game against the Blues, which Toronto managed to steal a point out of, was the last game in a six-game road trip. You can forgive them for being tired, especially against one of the bigger teams in the league. The fact that they were able to score twice late to tie it up and take it to overtime is a testament to this team’s scoring depth, but more on that in a minute.
The last game of this mini-slump was nothing short of a good game against another good team. The reigning Stanley Cup champions in fact. However, being pushed around in St. Louis, and then allowing Tom Wilson to score a game-winning goal at home may have induced some to clamour for Kyle Dubas to add some toughness. While it may not be the worst idea, it’s not something this team needs.
Live By The Sword…
The last time the Maple Leafs were good, Darcy Tucker was a key contributor to the team. He was the sort of player many think the Maple Leafs need now. Tucker was that sandpaper that allowed the Maple Leafs’ stars to play without needing to worry about someone being run. Tucker was there to stare down opposing team’s checkers with those crazy eyes of his. Instead of running at Mats Sundin, teams would focus on Tucker. It worked, at least Tucker was a part of the team the last time they made a Conference final in 2002. Tucker had 38 penalty minutes in 17 playoff games that season.
It was a different time then. Living by the sword and dying by the sword was a popular term to use when referring to Tucker’s style of play, and the style of play he had returned. Today, that term still applies, but in a different way for the Maple Leafs. They’re not a team built to be tough. Few teams are built like that in today’s NHL. The Maple Leafs don’t have a Tucker or a Tie Domi. That’s okay. The sword these Maple Leafs are living and dying by now isn’t a cross-check into the boards (if you watch the play in that video, that’s why Maple Leafs fans booed Daniel Alfredsson all those years). The sword they’re living and dying by now is goal scoring.
Depth Will Overcome
Toronto is full of goal scorers. John Tavares and Auston Matthews are the two big guns, but even the third line centre, Kadri, has scored more than 30 in a season twice. They have more goal scorers coming into their own now as well. Kasperi Kapanen has 18 goals and Andreas Johnsson has 16. There’s a lot of goal scoring talent on this team. Yes, the goals seem to dry up once in a while. Much of that is due to the inexplicable lack of penalties the other teams take. The Maple Leafs have had the second-fewest power-play opportunities in the league with 158.
There is certainly a chance the Maple Leafs get into a playoff series, say against the Boston Bruins, again, and find themselves playing against a game plan that includes wearing them down. A game plan designed to take advantage of their lack of grit. Power plays are even rarer in the playoffs. Teams can get away with a little more of the rough stuff in the playoffs. The Maple Leafs will have to find a way to stay healthy and confident while scoring timely goals and taking advantage of the power play chances they do get. It won’t be easy, but it’s the way this team is built. It’s the way the NHL is trending.
While the Maple Leafs may add some grit for the right price, there’s a sucker born at every trade deadline. Dubas is not likely to be one of those suckers.
Pick Your Poison
Toronto will play with the mindset they’ve had all year. Pick your poison. The Tavares line, the Matthews line, Kapanen or Johnsson. They’ll come in waves and Dubas is betting other teams can’t stop all of them no matter how much toughness is on the other team. They may lose games here and there. It’s been three in a row for the first time this season currently. This team has too much talent to worry too much about a couple road losses at the end of a long trip, and a loss to last year’s best team.
