Leafs Pregame: I’m sure they’ll do just fine against Tampa

Pick the story line you are most comfortable with. There’s the story that has the Leafs getting crushed three separate times last week, include once to a team icing one of their own employee’s as an emergency backup goaltender. In that story the Leafs also saw the trade deadline come and go without upgrade, or without a commitment to changing what looks to be broken. This team has 8 wins in their last 20 games.

The other story is the Leafs are a team that has 23 wins in their last 40 games, and has one of the best records over that stretch. They’ve got a young core that should be the envy of the league, and while they’ve struggled of late, their GM gave them a vote of confidence that this team can be a roster that accomplishes a lot, but it’s up to them to figure out how they get there. They are currently sitting in a playoff spot, and the team chasing them made some moves that could take them further out of the race, and the Leafs are expecting two defensemen back in the coming weeks which could help them down the stretch and into the playoffs.

I’m not telling you which one is the right one to believe, and the truth probably falls somewhere in between, but no matter which one you lean towards, the Leafs face Tampa tonight and that’s not easy. The Lightning do have the best record in hockey over those last 40 games, and have been loading up so they don’t have a repeat of their first round failure in last year’s playoffs. The one game these two teams have played against each other was a 7-3 pounding of the Leafs, that saw Andersen replaced in the 3rd. And this is the first of three remaining games against the Lightning this season. Ugh.