Leafs weekly review: Back on track
6 years ago
The record 2:1:0
Things got back to normal this week in Leafland as the Buds won two games. Carolina were in town for a matinee game on Dec. 19 and the Leafs ran riot over the Canes to win 8-1.
The Buds were three for three on the Powerplay and even grabbed a shorty through Leo Komarov. Mitch Marner had his first four point night in his young NHL career as he is looking more and more like the player we saw last season.
A trip to John Tortorella’s Blue Jackets followed on Dec. 20 and the Leafs had to listen to the league’s most annoying goal horn four times as the Jackets ran out 4-2 winners.
Though some positives could come out of the defeat at Columbus as the Leafs outshot their opponents and Mitch Marner skated the length of the rink to score a beauty towards the end of the game.
On Christmas Eve-Eve Toronto travelled to the Big Apple to face a pretty decent New York Ranger side. The game also featured the return of Auston Matthews.
A good performance from the Leafs saw they sitting pretty comfortably heading into the third, leading 3-1 and we all witnessed a magnificent Auston Matthews goal. But a J.T. Miler goal midway through the third period but the Leafs into squeaky bum mode.
Former Leaf Michael Grabner then looked to have grabbed the game-tying goal but the Leafs challenged the goal for offside. Then after about five seconds of deliberation the officials agreed that the play was offside and the Leafs were still ahead and they held on for a crucial two points.
The stats
| Rk | Player | G | A | P |
| 1 | Marner | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 2 | Bozak | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 3 | Nylander | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 4 | Hyman | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | JVR | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 6 | Rielly | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 7 | Matthews | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | Hainsey | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Gardiner | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Seasonal stats
| Rk | Player | GP | G | A | P |
| 1 | Matthews | 27 | 14 | 14 | 28 |
| 2 | Marner | 37 | 4 | 22 | 26 |
| 3 | JVR | 36 | 16 | 9 | 25 |
| 4 | Nylander | 37 | 7 | 18 | 25 |
| 5 | Rielly | 37 | 4 | 20 | 24 |
| 6 | Kadri | 37 | 13 | 10 | 23 |
| 7 | Hyman | 37 | 6 | 13 | 19 |
| 8 | Marleau | 37 | 12 | 7 | 19 |
| 9 | Bozak | 36 | 7 | 12 | 19 |
| 10 | Gardiner | 37 | 3 | 14 | 17 |
Nazem Kadri is currently on a 10 game pointless streak which he needs to break desperately if he is to keep pace with the front runners in the Leafs point race. Auston Matthews is clinging onto top spot still but he added two points against the Rangers to help solidify his position.
Mitch Marner had a great week and jumped from 6th to 2nd in the Leafs point scorers. Morgan Rielly is also having a career season notching 24 points – putting him on pace for over 50.
Divisional standings
| Rk | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | Pts |
| 1 | Tampa | 35 | 26 | 7 | 2 | 54 |
| 2 | Toronto | 37 | 22 | 14 | 1 | 45 |
| 3 | Boston | 34 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 43 |
| 4 | MontreLOL | 36 | 16 | 16 | 4 | 36 |
| 5 | Florida | 36 | 15 | 16 | 5 | 35 |
| 6 | Detroit | 35 | 13 | 15 | 7 | 33 |
| 7 | OttaLOL | 34 | 11 | 15 | 8 | 30 |
| 8 | BuffaLOL | 36 | 9 | 20 | 7 | 25 |
FIVE of the bottom seven teams in the NHL belong to the Atlantic division meaning that after Boston this league is more a case of who can get the best odds for the draft lottery. Though Florida have began to hot up winning their last three games.
Tampa Bay did lose to Vegas, but other than that are flying high and look like dead certs for the Presidents Trophy. Speaking of Vegas they are sat second in the overall standings! Yikes.
Boston are currently playing like it is 2011 and have won 7 of their last 10, including their last four in a row. The Bruins are riding Tuukka Rask and arguably the best top line in the league. It looks as though the first round of the playoffs will be Boston with home ice advantage over the Leafs.
Player of the Week
Two goal and six points for Mitch Marner makes him the obvious choice for player of the week. Not only that but he managed to score a beauty against Columbus – which confirmed to me that Marner is back in form. Hopefully Marner will come back from the small Christmas break recharged and ready to start scoring more points for the Leafs down the stretch.
Conclusion
Last week I asked the Leafs to shoot the puck more – this week they did. 13 goals in three games is like the Leafs of old and I enjoyed all the games this week – compared to the snorefest we endured against Minnesota a couple of weeks ago. Having Matthews back against New York brough some balance back to the team, and if we can keep Matthews on the ice we should be able to hold onto second place in the division.
Coming up
The Leafs are on the road out west this week as they face basement dwellers Arizona, Colorado and Vegas. The Coyotes actually beat the Leafs on home ice last month 4-1, though that game was controversial as Auston Matthews had a late goal disallowed that would have tied the game.
The Avalanche are having a better year than last, but they still sit bottom of the Central Division. That being said they are on the playoff bubble and sit just three points outside of a wildcard slot.
The Golden Knights lost to Toronto earlier this season in the shootout, but the Leafs will not be taking this game lightly as the Knights are formidable at home – winning 15 of their 18 home games.
So three road games. I am hopeful that the Leafs can come away with points in all of these games especially since we should be fielding our full offensive lines. As a minimum though the team should be picking up wins at Arizona and Colorado.
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