Little rest lies between now and Christmas for the Maple Leafs as they have three road games this week and two the following. The action begins tomorrow when the Leafs will travel to Philadelphia and look to continue their winning ways after collecting four points over the weekend. The Flyers have won three in a row after losing ten in a row and seem to be bouncing back.

The Leafs secured a big two points against Pittsburgh on Saturday winning 4-3 and then held on to a 1-0 lead all game versus Edmonton. It was all goaltending in this one as Curtis McElhinney stood on his head and played his best game to date for the Maple Leafs. All four games this month have been one goal games and the Leafs have won three of them, only losing to Vancouver.

Toronto’s backup McElhinney has certainly won the confidence of Leafs Nation and the team after that superb performance last night. I’m sure Connor McDavid’s father thought McElhinney had the game of his life as he robbed Connor a number of times; he watched the game in a private box seat with Auston Matthews old man. McElhinney will get another taste this week when the Leafs have back to back games Thursday (Minnesota) and Friday (Detroit). If I were to take a guess I would imagine Andersen goes Thursday night and McElhinney holds the fort on Friday.

It’s been a successful season for the boys in blue and white as the Leafs are adding up points and are looking at a potential 100+ points season if they can keep up this pace. When is the last time you heard that? The Buds are currently sitting second in the Atlantic Division, second in the Eastern Conference and fourth place in the National Hockey League. Far too many years would the Leafs be at Christmas break looking from the outside in; relish the glory I say.

It will be interesting to see if the Leafs management team tries to make a move or two as the season continues on. If the right deal were to present itself, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the Leafs move some of their forward depth in exchange for an upgrade on the back end.

Sometimes a trade can really spark a team and other times it can hurt the dynamic of the team and impact things differently. It’s important to look at the overall depth and realize that Toronto can likely risk moving a decent forward or two as they have some quality forwards making their way up the ranks and will be ready for a taste within the next couple seasons.

Matthews will hopefully back in action soon, he and Rielly collided in the game against Pittsburgh on Saturday night and was shaken up and missed the game last night against Edmonton. The Leafs have really worked hard in those games without their stud center and have gone 5-0.

Let’s hope Matthews and the Leafs are ready to go tomorrow in Philadelphia.

Thanks for reading, have a great day.

Join the Discussion: » 193 Comments » Post New Comment

» Bust out your monocle and take a gander of the Atlantic

» Atlantic Division Spotlight: Tampa Bay Lightning

» Slicing the Atlantic Division in Half

» Atlantic Spotlight: Toronto Maple Leafs

» Atlantic Spotlight: Red Wings