One thing is certain; the Leafs offensive domination has begun to cool down as the season progresses forward. This was inevitable as the rate of goals per game was outrageous to think four plus goals could be scored per game.
With the extended absence of Auston Matthews and Nikita Zaistev now on the injured reserve for a couple of weeks the Leafs will really have to focus on doing the little things right. After all that’s what usually makes the difference when you are in a tight game, one bad mistake and its game over.
Offensively the Leafs need to produce a lot more shots on net, it’s as simple as that. Defensively the shots on goal are way too high and the Leafs need to continue to push the opposition to the outside to reduce the number of quality shots. This is certainly an area of concern as the blue and white give up on average 34 shots a game, which is third worst in the NHL.
Last season the Leafs were beastly on the penalty kill and power play. This year not nearly as effective and it’s starting to catch up to them. The Buds currently are sitting in 11th place with power play success scoring only 20 power play goals out of 98 opportunities. The penalty killing units have done a decent job but there is still room for improvement, the Leafs are sitting in 14th place with a 81.9% kill rate.
Many games are won on special teams and even though the Leafs are one of the better five on five teams, they need to improve on the power play especially and come up with some new plays as it seems the opposition is onto them.
Offensively the Leafs are scoring 3.15 goals a game (which has come down in the last few weeks of play), and are tied with Colorado for 7th highest scoring team per game.
As you can see there are statistically some bright spots on this young Maple Leafs team, but surely some specific areas that can be improved which will help the team in the long run. Andersen/McElhinney can’t make 35+ stops every night to secure two points. If the Leafs are going to give this many shots a game they sure better be ready to score a handful of goals. There will only be so many games that you win getting outshot by double your output.
The Leafs will try to snap a three game losing streak today when they play Carolina at 2pm. An early bugger! It’s likely Frederik Andersen will be between the pipes for the Leafs and will likely play against Scott Darling.
This game marks 100 years of hockey in Toronto and will be “The Next Century Game….
December 19th, 1917 the first NHL game was played. The Montreal Wanderers beat the Toronto Arenas 10-9. Oddly enough the Wanderers arena burned down shortly after and the Arena’s would end up winning the first Stanley Cup ever which of course is the first of thirteen in the Maple Leafs franchise history.
With multiple Stanley Cups raised in the early years of the franchise, the Leafs have struggled since the late 60’s and are overdue for reclamation.
Enjoy today’s rare 2pm EST game,
Thanks for reading!