Follow Colin on Twitter! Follow @ColinDJD
Well I have to say, this has been something special to watch over the past 12 games.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are sporting a comfortable six game winning streak and sit 8-1-1 over their previous ten games played. Take it a step further, and they've won 10 of their last 12 games and took one of two losses to OT. That, my friends, is 21 points out of a possible 24 points. Call me impressed.
And the thing that I find most interesting are the columns/blogs/articles being written about this team and their "success". Essentially, many/most writers seems to be relying on the recent history of this team and are finding any reason to predict that this team will, without a doubt, start to slow down or collapse.
Do you blame them?
And the media isn't alone with respect to this sentiment, even fans are more than ready for that ever so popular 15 game slide where the Leafs move from a strong playoffs spot to competing for that wild card spot and ending up on the outside looking in. Is this year any different though?
Well, the biggest criticism of the Leafs last year was their unsustainable shooting percentages, stupid number of shots against which they were allowing, far too many penalties being taken, and a stupid high number of giveaways. Generally speaking, we see teams start to heat up and others cool off come January. The teams who have playoff pedigree know what it takes to get to the dance, and a few others know what it takes to get to the dance floor. That said, this is where I feel the Leafs may struggle, all conversations of their stats aside.
Toronto historically doesn't have a great resume with respect to battling through adversity, closing games that need to be won, or protecting leads be it during an important game or within the standings. That being said, I'm not entirely sure I can compare this particular squad to that of recent years (I've heard that before).
But seriously. This team is, so far, displaying a much better product in regards to the very things that they were struggling with over the past few years.
Their team isn't quite as young as they once were, it would seem that they have a nice average of vets/younger players, and also a nice balance between grit and speed. To me, it seems that the recipe for success is there, but I suppose it will come down to whether or not they can continue to roll four lines as effectively as they have been and, knock on wood, keep key guys off the IR list.
As mentioned, the criticism of this team has been toward their unsustainable or "this ship will eventually sink playing like this", numbers. So let's go over a few which likely influenced their collapse last season and see how the match up.
2013-14 NHL Season
Goals Per Game: 2.71 Goals Against Per Game: 3.07 Power Play: 19.8% Penalty Kill: 78.4% Face Off: 48.3% Hits: 3rd in league Giveaways: 2nd in league Takeaways: 5th in league Shots Per Game: 27.9 Shots Allowed: 35.9
Looking over the above numbers, you can kind of see why most felt that while the Leafs were winning games, there was simply too many holes in their overall play for it to be considered sustainable. Sure hard work, lucky bounces and fantastic goaltending will help persevere, however those alone can only take you so far. The following sets of numbers I will provide will be for this year (so far), to offer a comparison.
2014-15 NHL Season
Goals Per Game: 3.45 Goals Against Per Game: 2.77 Power Play: 21.0% Penalty Kill: 84.0% Face Off: 50.3% Hits: 1st in league Giveaways: 7th in league Takeaways: 1st in league Shots Per Game: 30.3 Shots Allowed: 33.8
Interesting stuff so far, eh? The Leafs have actually improved in every single stat from last year...somehow. And while there is still a good chunk of games remaining and teams will certainly heat up, should we start to maybe consider that Toronto, too, could actually improve in certain areas? Despite their current record, the team would be naà¯ve to think other than there being areas in which they could could stand to improve, which to me means there are even more opportunities for stronger games.
A lot of folks have been saying that much of Toronto's success has come from outstanding goaltending, but if you look at the numbers, the goalies actually have rather marginal numbers (even throughout this current winning streak).
And don't get me wrong, I am fully aware that the goalies have bailed their team out a few times over the past month or so, but isn't that what good goalies are expected to do? Otherwise, why even bother having a good goalie if the players in front of said goalie are expected to score and stop all chances on net. Listen folks, the goalies have been good and have bailed the team out in a few games, but they did not (win) those games, they provided their team with the chance to win...there's a difference.
Where I see room for improvement continues to be defensively, but what I have noticed is that the coaching staff and the team actually seem to be aware of their areas of weakness as would offer Carlyle after last night's game.
''I think we were very opportunistic tonight,'' he said. ''I feel we are slipping the last couple of games.
''We have to get back to that more energetic, more stop-and-go, more straight-line hockey. We do have some players who continue to do it, but I think as a whole we feel our game has slipped.''
And this is coming from a coach who is currently on a 6 game winning streak, because unlike us who had to watch from our televisions at home, he lived the ever so epic collapses of the last few years.
What about you? How do you feel about the Leafs current play and their chances moving forward?
Thanks for reading!