Niagara Falls, iconic destination of lovebirds, remains only 130 kilometers away from the Air Canada Center. But after jamming the entire six million population of Metro Toronto–only about 5.9 million Maple Leaf fanatics–into one suite last season, nerves inevitably have started to fray.

Not to suggest that the honeymoon is over. This is Toronto, hockey, and the Leafs. Nevertheless, being tested are vows renewed in 2016-17 over a generational talent in Auston Matthews, a Stanley Cup coaching track record in Mike Babcock, a three-time winning GM in Lou Lamoriello, a playoff berth for only the second time in 12 seasons and five overtime thrillers in a first round showing against Presidents Trophy-winning Washington.

After a breezy 6-1 start to 2017-18, the Leafs are 23-17-5 since and only 3-5-3 in their last 11, a reality check for the naïve.

It also is deja vu for the no-longer naïve. Men of a certain age who remember 1967–and even those born since who have had to be told about it–already have seen Toronto elevators get stuck a few floors from the top. Therefore, they do not assume the young and talented Leafs already can know all that it will take to end the five-decade drought. Having lived through Wayne Gretzky in Game Seven of 1993 and Jeremy Roenick in Game Six overtime in 2004, wise puckheads know that comeuppance is an inevitable part of the process, just pray that this latest incarnation of hope will not ultimately prove crushed as well.

So, while there is a long way to go in this chapter of the Leaf saga, anxiety already is part of the process. If not for a spirited rally from a 3-1 third-period deficit to beat hapless Ottawa last weekend, the Leafs would now be 11 games without a regulation win. Part of this slide are consecutive overtime losses against St. Louis and at Philadelphia that included blown two goal third-period leads and classic cases of caution-to-the-wind overtime brain lock suffered by William Nylander and Jake Gardiner.

As a result, goalie Frederik Anderson felt the need for a post-game public scolding. “We have to figure out who wants to commit to playing for the team,” Andersen said after his team left the key in the lock for the Flyers to escape. “We’ve got to look at the attitude.

“I think a lot of guys on the bench (would be) pretty frustrated to not be on the power play and seeing that kind of effort (on a shorthanded Wayne Simmonds goal). I think we have to look each other in the eyes and determine where we want to go from here.

“It’s lack of effort at certain points and it can’t happen. We have to figure this out if we want to play any meaningful hockey later.”

Short of naming names, darts don’t get any more pointed than that. But despite half the lower bowl wearing blue and white two nights later in Ottawa, the Leafs continued to sleep through two periods until Patrick Marleau woke them up with exhortations to play the system and work harder. Hardly a unique approach to slump busting, but the Leafs responded like they had never heard it before.

“You don’t want to have to do that,” said Marleau of his oratory. “When things go the wrong way, nobody likes to go through it, but you can definitely take a lesson from it.

As much a reason as the 30-goals Marleau apparently still has left in that stick in Year 20 of his career, the right word at the right time is why he and defenseman Ron Hainsey were brought to Toronto by Lamoriello last summer.

The Innocent Climb is what Pat Riley, the basketball builder of champions, called that first, fun year, when fresh assemblages of talent announce themselves as a coming team. But that’s only the minimum first step in a long process learned by the Islanders in devastating consecutive late seventies upset losses, by the first-time finalist Oilers in a sweep by the 4-time champions Isles, and the Mario Lemieux Penguins, who broke a 6-year playoff drought, then didn’t qualify the following year before winning consecutive Cups.

To reach the pinnacle requires hard-earned knowledge that what you thought was your best effort wasn’t even close. Sometimes it also takes a change of coach--not likely in this case, with Babcock signed until Matthews can start collecting his NHLPA pension –or a transformative trade, like Butch Goring to the Islanders or Ulf Samuelsson and Ron Francis to the Penguins, or Stephane Matteau and Steve Larmer to the 1994 Rangers.

This brings us to the Leafs and Lamoriello repeatedly to his cell, not likely willing to wait for his team to hit the wall this spring before he procures the defenseman required to take steep steps. Since most contenders also are looking for help on the blueline, good luck to Lou, especially now.
As Nikita Zaitsev is soon to return, Morgan Rielly is going on the DL.

When it rains, it pours; rookie Andreas Borgman goofed on the first two Colorado goals in a 4-2 Toronto loss on Monday night. But even allowing for inevitable orthopaedic pain and growing pains, the Leafs, as presently constituted even with the talented Gardiner, are without a true No. 1 defenseman. And they missed a grand opportunity to get one in the 2015 draft.

Mitch Marner, fourth-overall pick that year currently doing penance on the fourth line after being stripped by Nolan Patrick on the goal that ignited the Flyer comeback, is fast and exciting and on his way to becoming a consistent 30-goal scorer eventually. But will that ever have the value of the anchor defenseman, Ivan Provorov, who went seventh?

Not that the Leafs were not the only team that missed out. Even if Pavel Zacha, looking entirely ordinary so far, becomes what the Devils hope, Ray Shero, is minus a Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith or somebody who can grow into one. And New Jersey will be sharing a division with Provorov for a long time.

Kevin Shattenkirk’s struggles with the Rangers have been reminder that true ace defenseman can’t be bought in free agency. They rarely are available in a trade, either. And champions like the Penguins, who repeated last year with Kris Letang on the shelf, will be the exceptions.

Food for thought while the Leafs have their hunger questioned, internally and externally. Said Hainsey, a nice deadline pickup for the Penguins last year who earned a ring and all the respect that comes with one, following the rousing comeback in Ottawa. “As expectations go up, I think that certain things that maybe weren’t addressed will be as it becomes harder and harder to win,” said the defenseman.

“One thing I’ve learned, the more the expectations go up, the more you want to do well, the more attention in all areas is needed. That’s just going to be a progression here.”

Indeed, the Leafs stepped up to turn one good period at Ottawa into three against the red-hot Avalanche, only to lose when Matthews, who had one goal that counted and another that was overturned, didn’t come all the way back to the goal mouth with Blake Comeau on the late third-period goal.

Otherwise, there was no question that the Leafs played well enough to win. And, what with the wild card race being entirely in the Metropolitan Division, there is little reason to fear Toronto will miss the playoffs.

“It’s like a blessing and a curse,” Andersen said Monday night. “You really don’t want to sleepwalk into the playoffs. I think as the season goes on you want to get better; you want to be setting standards that go every night.

“I guess you talk about sophomore slumps and all that. I feel like the (the 2016-17 mindset) was ‘Let’s just do that again, it’s easy. We started up well and maybe we took it a little bit for granted. But that’s something we’re going to move past.”

Wherever is the sock Babcock stores his Cup ring, the Leafs know he has one. And since he has a contract for longer than even Nazem Kadri has gone without an assist, the coach can afford to say, “It’s important we went through the adversity we went through. I really believe that.”

We’re not so sure why Babcock used the past tense, but we do know this: As arm weary as a player, coach or GM may get trying to keep the sky from falling every day in a chicken-little-of-a-place like The Big Smoke, ultimately the pot-holed path to a championship is more helped along than hurt by such a level of intense scrutiny. Even more reassuring through these tough times for the young Leafs is that they have good scrutinizers in their locker room.

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