Do you remember the first few games Mike Babcock was behind the Toronto Maple Leafs bench?
Babcock was hopping along the bench from one side to the next giving direction and making sure everyone knew the role. A little tap on the back or the helmet after a good play and progress is made. There was a large magnitude of work that needed to be done, and there still is; but there is certainly some progress showing as the Leafs hammered the Colorado Avalanche last night 5-1 giving them troubles in the specials teams department.
The Leafs managed to score four power play goals and a short hander thanks to fan favorite Leo Komarov. Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau looks to be back into form, potting two goals with the man advantage last night, both excellent goals as the puck was moving tape to tape last night for the buds. Peter Holland had his best game as a Leaf last night in my books, he was excellent. He dished out three assists; two of them were perfect little touch passes to Parenteau. I’d say he has crawled out of Babcock’s doghouse for now, which isn’t easy from what I recall from his Detroit days.
Without getting too excited about the Leafs play as of late, you have to be happy to see improvement with Babcock’s system starting to generate more puck time in the offensive zone, better quality breakouts and of course winning. As we approach the twenty game mark of the season you can see the ‘Babcock Effect’ starting to sink in and the team is playing a much more solid game in and out.
How about Optimus Reimer, he’s back. James has been nothing but excellent, forget Bernier for now and just let Reimer run with it and let’s see what he can do. Whether you like Bernier or Reimer better, that matters not. Toronto needs to figure out their goaltending situation as the season goes on. I’m still not sure either one of these guys is our long term plan, but that’s for the coaching staff to figure out. Reimer had 35 saves last night and ended the night with a .971 save percent giving him four wins in a row and putting the Leafs just three points back of Detroit and a playoff spot.
Toronto is 5-3-2 in their last ten games and the good news is they are having some success with players producing and hopefully are able to sell high and get some picks and or prospects back in return. The Leafs future is looking promising as Nylander has been improving his two-way game as well as putting the puck in the net. Nylander has 19 points in 14 games for the Marlies with a +6 rating. Marner who is still playing with the London Knights has 32 points in 16 games and is +17.
Lately the Leafs have been successful with this lineup:
James van Riemsdyk – Nazem Kadri – Leo Komarov Shawn Matthias – Tyler Bozak – P.A. Parenteau Daniel Winnik – Peter Holland – Joffrey Lupul Michael Grabner – Byron Froese – Brad Boyes
Jake Gardiner – Dion Phaneuf Matt Hunwick – Morgan Rielly Martin Marincin – Roman Polak
I’m sure there will be some tweaking going on, but Babcock has certainly found some chemistry with the lines. If you notice when looking over the lines, there is a grinder on each line (Komarov, Matthias, Winnik, Froese). They complement the scorer on each line as they are able to dig the pucks out, and win battles along the boards as well as play a quality 200 foot game.
Lupul has actually been playing quite well under Mike Babcock, scoring his seventh goal of the season. He only had ten goals total last season in 55 games. Joffrey has done a good job at causing issues infront of the oppositions net, pouncing on rebounds and burying his chances. This is exactly where you need to score in the National Hockey League these days with the improved shot blocking and goalies who take up majority of the net.
Babcock quoted “All the guys have to do is look at Lupul and just draw that circle around the net, that’s where you score from in this league. You have to get in the paint if you want to score in this league.…
Toronto plays Friday against Carolina and Saturday/Monday versus Boston so there is certainly a good chance that Bernier will get one of the three starts as the Leafs play three games in four nights. But nothing is guaranteed as Babcock was certainly not pleased with Bernier’s performance the other night after he let in that stinker from the red line and gave up a weak rebound on the game winning goal. It was the most Toskala-esq moment in recent Leafs history and brought back some not so fond memories. Oh the joys of trading for a contending teams backup goalie.
There is still hope for Bernier, but he better figure it out or he may be eating kibble in Babcock’s doghouse.
Thanks for reading!