The Toronto Maple Leafs walked away with a solid two points last night after blanking the Buffalo Sabres through 60 minutes of play.

Perhaps I am alone in this sentiment, but I wasn’t really excited about last night’s game. With respect to the cold hard stats, the Leafs absolutely dominated their opponents last night with four goals to none, 37 shots to 10, 33 faceoff wins to 24, and just an overall beat down in Buffalo's end.

All that being said, I felt that their play during the first period and the majority of the second may have actually caused the game to end in a regulation loss had it been any other team than the Sabres. And I don’t mean to try and sound pessimistic, as although my beer was half empty throughout most of the game, I simply wasn’t convinced that a 4-0 win last night was reflective of their 60 minutes of play.

Now here me out.

I wholeheartedly understand that the Leafs are in a slump. They are trying to get offense from more than their top line, and they could stand to drastically improve upon their defensive play; quite a few things to improve upon, really.

So here’s the thing – Toronto has had issues with respect to their shots allowed per game. It would therefore stand to reason that this would be something they would be focusing on this season, resulting in guys getting in shooting lanes, playing a man to man style in their own end, and most importantly, not giving up the puck when trying to transition up the ice.

What I did notice last night was an improvement in some of the above. Shots were limited, yes. Guys were in fact getting in the shooting lanes and taking away shooting opportunities, yes. However what I noticed was a continuation of “puck watching” in the Leafs defensive end which, in many cases, result as goals.

Had the Leafs not been playing the Sabres last night, I feel that a few too many instances where they appeared dazed and confused in their own end, watching the puck, could have turned into early deficits where they would be chasing a lead. It wasn’t really until they scored their first goal of the night and got some confidence in their step which also deflated the Sabres, did they seem to work with more cohesion.

I suppose my point is merely that while the Leafs did get a solid two points and appeared rather dominant on the score sheet, I wasn’t convinced that their efforts were enough against most playoff contending teams. And perhaps I am being a little too negative, but after watching this team for far too many years, you tend to learn a few things. A big win like last night against a measly Buffalo team may disguise their defensive ineptness and not help their own case.

Having some confidence in your step after a “big win” is always a good thing, like I mean look at the faces of Kessel after his “bank” goal, or JVR’s smile after receiving a beauty feed from Morgan Rielly; all good things! But what I challenge is that these goals and or smiles may have been missed had the Sabres offered a little more offense than they did and perhaps took the first goal of the game themselves.

And to not sound like a complete Debbie-downer, I’d like to add that if Toronto does in fact continue to showcase some of what they did last night, against stronger opponents, they will be without a doubt moving in the right direction. There was hustle from the lines who needed to hustle (props to Lupul, btw), guys took away scoring opportunities, they appeared to be on the same page (after scoring a goal or two), and they got shit done.

Now I think I’ve said enough, how do you feel about the overall game or effort last night? Was there really an improvement in areas which needed focus? Did they perhaps get lucky that Buffalo couldn’t manage a goal or two of their own early in the game? Or did they really play as a cohesive group earning those two points?

Thanks for reading!

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