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The Toronto Maple Leafs won four games in a row against California foes and even fans of the Blue and White who have the scar tissue of 56 years of pain and disappointment perhaps allowed their optimism to grow.
Then the Leafs blow late leads in three consecutive games. Last Thursday, Auston Matthews stakes Toronto to a 3-1 second-period lead in New York, but the Islanders rallied to tie the game and win in overtime 4-3. On Saturday, Toronto took a 3-0 first-period lead and dominated an excellent Colorado club, but then proceeded to fall asleep and surrender five straight to the Avalanche in a 5-3 loss.
Toronto then fails to take advantage of a Detroit Red Wings squad (who also played on Saturday) in the second of back-to-back home games (who were delayed getting to Toronto because of weather issues). They led 2-1 heading to the third and allowed Detroit to rally and score three goals for a 4-2 victory.
It leaves one to wonder…..are the Leafs the team that won four in a row and played excellent two-way hockey against admittedly weak opposition (except for Los Angeles) or are they the team that cannot hold a lead and crumble late in games?
“We gave up three scoring chances in the third period. Two of them ended up in the net.… Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe lamented after the loss to the Wings on Sunday. “You don’t like that you can’t get the next goal. To me, it is an offensive piece today.…
Andrew Copp gets the go-ahead goal pic.twitter.com/5FiBHaZp95
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) January 15, 2024
If you think the Leafs situation is not precarious, take a look at the Eastern Conference standings right now. Toronto is in third place in the Atlantic with 50 points. The two wild-card spots are occupied by division rivals Detroit and Tampa Bay with 49. Pittsburgh and the Islanders are out of the playoffs with 48 points. And to make matters worse, Toronto embarks on a stretch where they play the two hottest clubs in the NHL (Edmonton and Seattle), the leader of the Pacific Division (Vancouver), and have a home-and-home with the Central Division leader (Winnipeg).
By the time the city of Toronto hosts the All-Star game early next month with four Leafs on the Eastern roster, the club could be on the outside looking in of the postseason.
But hey, William Nylander (who had no points in the three losses) is signed for eight years. Pop the champagne, folks. *******
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