Leafs weekly wrap up: What a week to be a Leaf
6 years ago
The record
3-0-0
The Leafs enjoyed two home victories against Canadian rivals and one on the road against the reigning Stanley Cup champs. Beautiful.
On Wednesday, the Buds hosted the Calgary Flames – who we downed 4-1 at the end of last month. This game was not quite as relaxed as our trip to Calgary though – we were outshot 48-29. Fortunately though the Buds have a Freddie that is playing marvellously and we managed to get away from the game with just one goal against. Morgan Rielly is quietly having a solid season and he netted his fourth goal of the season on the powerplay.
We headed to OT, where the Leafs were again dominated – this time at 3v3. Some impressive Freddie saves got us into the skills competition that is the shootout. William Nylander and Auston Matthews scored for the good guys and we came away with the win. Sidenote – Matthew Tkachuk got a one game suspension for violently attacking Matt Martin.
On Saturday the Leafs visited Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. Arguably our best first period of the season saw us take an unprecedented three-goal lead. Connor Brown, JVR and Tyler Bozak all scored in the first to give the good guys the comfortable lead.
The Pens got back into the game virtue of cheating – Ryan Reaves stole Morgan Rielly’s stick – before Riley Sheahan of all people got the hosts on the board. Then Evgeni Malkin got the Pens within striking distance on the powerplay with a beauty of a wrist shot that went over Freddie’s glove and into the top corner.
Bozak tipped in a beauty just 22 seconds after Malkin’s goal – and the Buds were back in command.
The third period was a bit messy – the Leafs conjured up just three shots but only allowed the Pens eight. A frantic end to the game saw a clearly tired/injured Leafs team cling to a vital Eastern Conference win.
On Sunday the Leafs hosted McDavid and Edmonton. Though really Edmonton are just McDavid. Auston Matthews was a game-day decision and he missed out due to injury. However the Leafs were able to win their sixth straight without Matthews – proving how good the depth is at the club.
Zach Hyman of all people scored the important goal just 34 seconds into the game. After the first period the Leafs relied on Curtis McElhinney of all people to win them the game – he grabbed his sixth career shutout! The Leafs back up saved 41 shots and he did himself and the Leafsnation proud with his performance.
The Stats
| Rk | PLAYER | GP | G | A | P |
| 1 | Bozak | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Mitch Marner | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| 3 | Morgan Rielly | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | William Nylander | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Zach Hyman | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Nikita Zaitsev | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Brown | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| JVR | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Ron Hainsey | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Gardiner | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Eleven Leafs scored points this week – though non were scored by Auston Matthews. Tyler Bozak had a hell of a game against Pittsburgh proving he can only play when Phil Kessel is in the same building. Mitch Marner also notched three assists which is lovely. Roman Polak also scored an assist but I omitted him from the table because he should not be getting played ahead of Connor Carrick.
Seasonal stats
| Rk | Name | GP | G | A | P |
| 1 | Auston Matthews | 26 | 13 | 13 | 26 |
| 2 | Nazem Kadri | 31 | 13 | 10 | 23 |
| 3 | James Van Riemsdyk | 30 | 14 | 7 | 21 |
| 4 | William Nylander | 31 | 5 | 16 | 21 |
| 5 | Morgan Rielly | 31 | 4 | 16 | 20 |
| 6 | Mitch Marner | 31 | 2 | 17 | 19 |
| 7 | Patrick Marleau | 31 | 10 | 7 | 17 |
| 8 | Zach Hyman | 31 | 6 | 9 | 15 |
| 9 | Jake Gardiner | 31 | 2 | 13 | 15 |
| 10 | Connor Brown | 31 | 9 | 5 | 14 |
Tyler Bozak is the biggest climber this week – though he still is not on the table as he is joint 10th with Connor Brown. Auston Matthews had a pointless week – but he is still top of the table. Morgan Rielly also deserves a mention as he is quietly becoming quite the offensive defenseman.
The fancy stats
Not really a good week in regards to CF%. The Leafs enjoyed 47.86 in their victory against the Flames. They then dipped to 42.55 in Pittsburgh before dropping to a lowly 39.00 against Edmonton. The Buds did not play well – but they came out with six points from a possible six. I will take that every day!
Maybe the Leafs are due a few defeats? They probably could have lost every game this past week but squeaked through thanks to good goaltending and puck luck. This team has not really got going properly yet this season and a good team wins games when they are playing poorly.
Curtis McElhinney has a seasonal .925 save percentage – impressive.
Divisional standings
Tampa are still running away with the division and have three more points than the Leafs – with two more games to play too. The divisional leaders won all three of their games this past week. Boston has four games in hand on the Leafs and sit nine points behind. Montreal are 11 points behind the Leafs and have played the same amount.
Interestingly the wildcard slots in the East see the Islanders and Penguins are sat with three more points than the third placed Atlantic team – Boston.
| Tampa Bay | 29 | 21 | 6 | 2 | 44 |
| Toronto | 31 | 20 | 10 | 1 | 41 |
| Boston | 27 | 14 | 9 | 4 | 32 |
| Montreal | 31 | 13 | 14 | 4 | 30 |
| Detroit | 29 | 11 | 13 | 5 | 27 |
| Florida | 26 | 11 | 14 | 4 | 26 |
| Ottawa | 28 | 9 | 12 | 7 | 25 |
| Bufallo | 27 | 7 | 17 | 6 | 20 |
Player of the week
Goaltending!
Freddie Andersen and Curtis McElhinney earned their wages this past week as both goalies won the team games on their own. Freddie was nearly perfect against Calgary on Wednesday saving 47 of 48 shots. Against the Penguins Freddie saved 33 of 36. Then on Sunday McElhinney had a vezina calibre performance saving everything Edmonton and Connor McDavid threw at him – all 41 shots.
Conclusion
Well we won every game. So in conclusion this was a good week. Underlying numbers are a bit worrying though. The Leafs were not at their best this week but somehow won – luck will change eventually.
Also we beat Edmonton without Matthews. Lol. And we have won all five of our games without him.
Coming up
Three road games this week and the the weekend off! Philly on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center. Minnesota on Thursday and Detroit on Friday.
After winning three this past week, it would be nice to see the Leafs build on that with at least two wins this week. Detroit are 26th in the overall standings so Friday’s game is a must win. Philly are 24th but broke out of a bad streak to win their last three games – and they have been off since Thursday night. The Wild are not looking as dominant this season as they cling onto the final wildcard slot in the West. They have won their last two games via overtime against Anaheim and San Jose.
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