After a wonderful family trip to Florida enjoying some relaxing time in the sun by the pool and a few cold pops on the golf course, I’m happy to be home.
The Toronto Maple Leafs had a successful week in the overall picture and sport a 6-6-3 record before facing off against the Nashville Predators tomorrow night at the Air Canada Center in Toronto.
It’s been obvious the young Maple Leafs team has had no issues putting the puck in the back of the net and creating havoc in the offensive zone of their opponents. As the season goes on the scoring usually tightens up as teams settle in and their defensemen adjust accordingly. In the overall most teams are able to shore up their defense in a way that they know how their forwards react and the structure of the breakout is much more consistent.
Hopefully this is something that comes together for the Maple Leafs as it’s been obvious they have troubles getting the puck out quick and efficiently.
They were hemmed in a number of times versus an established and hungry Pittsburgh Penguins team. It’s certainly the most concerning thing on the team right now as the defensemen are having trouble dishing the puck out to a forward in flight. A smoother exit of the zone would be beneficial to both the forwards and defensemen, it would also let Babcock sleep easier at night knowing he’s getting quality line changes and not exhausting his defenders as they scramble trying to get the puck out at all costs. I’ve seen a couple delays of game penalties and goals that have happened due to poor zone exits, something the youngsters will learn to get better at as they get comfortable with each other’s style of play.
As the season continues on and the Leafs management staff as a whole gets a good viewing of what they have and what they need to improve the team, we can bet there will be some sort of attention given to the defensive gaffes the team has been displaying. Whether it is through trade, free agency or promotion of a Marlies player, the Leafs defense will be improved one way or another.
Andrew Nielsen continues to impress me on the Toronto Marlies, racking up nine points in his first twelve games is of quality. But what’s really making him stand out to me is his overall ability and how he generates a number of scoring chances and racks up the shots total while doing so. He’s not the toughest and meanest son of a gun, but he certainly plays with an edge at 6 foot 3, 220 pounds. The Leafs are being patient with Nielsen before bringing him up to the big show, and rightfully so as there is no reason in doing so until an injury occurs. Frank Corrado getting a chance to prove his worth is fine by me, he’s earned at least that.
The other good news coming out of the Marlies is the offensive punch from both Kasperi Kapanen and even more so Brendan Leipsic. Leipsic leads the Marlies with 17 points in 12 games and Kapanen has 13 points in 12 games, including a team leading 7 goals. With Leipsic on the left wing and Kapanen on the right, it’s good to see some more talent lined up in the cupboards. Don’t forget the Leafs addition of Kerby Rychel either, he found the back of the net twice to get the monkey off the back and has 4 points in 10 games now but brings a level of toughness many players don’t bring to the table.
Now that Leafs Nation as a whole has settled down with their worry’s for Frederik Andersen, isn’t it nice having a goalie that can keep you in games and even squeak out a win here and there that perhaps wasn’t possible in the last couple of years.
Andersen has been making a lot of saves, and a number of high quality ones. Once the Leafs improve their defense we should see four quality seasons where Andersen is able to win a number of games more than he loses. It’s still a process in the making but there is certainly a lot of headway being made, and I like it.
Game versus Nashville:
Arvidsson-Johansen-Neal has been the top line for Nashville, but the Leafs also have to look out for Filip Forsberg, PK Subban and Roman Josi. Those are obviously the biggest threats to key in on for the Leafs, as of late it seems that Neal and Forsberg are heating up so it makes sense that one of them gets the Kadri treatment.
It’s likely that Pekke Rinne will be between the pipes for Nashville who’s been excellent, holding a 2.13 GAA and a .930 save percent. The Predators are 6-5-3 and have struggled with only one regulation win in six away games, they are coming off a 5-0 pillaging of the Ducks for their first road win.
Toronto had some troubles solving Matt Murray on Saturday night; he was phenomenal all game long. He especially impressed me when the Leafs had three high quality scoring chances all short-handed. That certainly could have made the difference if Toronto capitalized on one of those chances, it would have been a whole new game at that point.
I certainly liked the effort by Andersen who saved a number of great chances, one by former Maple Leaf. Phil Kessel.
Matt Martin may be due for the odd shift up a line here and there to bring a couple booming hits to the opposition; I loved watching him drop Evgeni Malkin on Saturday. Toronto could benefit playing a rougher game against some of the oppositions elite players, giving them a hard time, with little to no room to skate with the puck. We saw it with Kadri covering McDavid and I hope to see more of it in the future. Martin getting the odd shift up a line to create some havoc could be something we see from time to time if Babcock wants to throw some weight around.
Toronto plays three games this week, Tuesday (Nashville), Thursday (Florida) and Saturday (Montreal).
Time to start another three game win streak? I think so.
Go Leafs Go!
Thanks for reading.