<p>The <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a>, for the first time in what felt like forever, showed up and dominated their opponent from start to finish.</p>
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<p>Coming off of two straight home losses to divisional rivals in a crucial playoff race, the Leafs bounced back from a 1-4-1 stretch with a 6-2 win over the Calgary Flames. It was the ideal type of win to satisfy a fanbase that&#8217;s been sharpening their pitchforks lately, and that kind of mood wasn&#8217;t aided by the fact that three of the Leafs&#8217; last five losses have come thanks to a blown lead. After sitting first in the Atlantic Division for much of the past few months, the recent slide has dropped them to a second-place tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who picked up a win tonight as well.</p>
<p>But, since they can&#8217;t control the outcome of other games, let&#8217;s focus on the things they did against Calgary, which was a lot of good. Auston Matthews popped off for two goals and an assist, giving him three goals in his past two games after a lengthy dry spell, Max Domi and Nick Robertson each potted a goal and combined for three points themselves, and Joseph Woll stood tall while the team in front of him gave him a big cushion to work with.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s also worth mentioning that the Leafs&#8217; power play went 3-for-3, continuing to be a bright spot despite a rough stretch since the trade deadline. The Leafs have the fifth-best power play in the league since January 1 and have been clicking with the man advantage at the right time. The power play going dry down the final stretch has long been an issue for this team, so if they can keep up the momentum up going into the playoffs, they&#8217;ll be giving themselves much better odds at advancing than the 2023-24 team who scored only one goal in the first round.</p>
<p>While the move to reunite Matthews and Mitch Marner today was met with some criticism from the fans, they were buzzing early on and set the tone of the game. It also allowed the line of <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/knee-jerk-reaction-robertson-domi-lead-maple-leafs-over-blackhawks">Domi, Robertson</a>, and Bobby McMann to reunite, and the result was a key opening goal from Domi less than five minutes into the game and a goal for each player on the line. Heading into the playoffs with Domi at third-line centre heading into the playoffs might not be the outcome the Leafs had hoped for, but if this line keeps up the way they&#8217;re playing, they may force Craig Berube&#8217;s hand.</p>
<p>The Leafs will look to string together some wins when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.</p>
<p><strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong></p>
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The <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/combinations">Toronto Maple Leafs</a>, for the first time in what felt like forever, showed up and dominated their opponent from start to finish.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2106" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="324"></div>
Coming off of two straight home losses to divisional rivals in a crucial playoff race, the Leafs bounced back from a 1-4-1 stretch with a 6-2 win over the Calgary Flames. It was the ideal type of win to satisfy a fanbase that's been sharpening their pitchforks lately, and that kind of mood wasn't aided by the fact that three of the Leafs' last five losses have come thanks to a blown lead. After sitting first in the Atlantic Division for much of the past few months, the recent slide has dropped them to a second-place tie with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who picked up a win tonight as well.

But, since they can't control the outcome of other games, let's focus on the things they did against Calgary, which was a lot of good. Auston Matthews popped off for two goals and an assist, giving him three goals in his past two games after a lengthy dry spell, Max Domi and Nick Robertson each potted a goal and combined for three points themselves, and Joseph Woll stood tall while the team in front of him gave him a big cushion to work with.

It's also worth mentioning that the Leafs' power play went 3-for-3, continuing to be a bright spot despite a rough stretch since the trade deadline. The Leafs have the fifth-best power play in the league since January 1 and have been clicking with the man advantage at the right time. The power play going dry down the final stretch has long been an issue for this team, so if they can keep up the momentum up going into the playoffs, they'll be giving themselves much better odds at advancing than the 2023-24 team who scored only one goal in the first round.

While the move to reunite Matthews and Mitch Marner today was met with some criticism from the fans, they were buzzing early on and set the tone of the game. It also allowed the line of <a href="https://theleafsnation.com/news/knee-jerk-reaction-robertson-domi-lead-maple-leafs-over-blackhawks">Domi, Robertson</a>, and Bobby McMann to reunite, and the result was a key opening goal from Domi less than five minutes into the game and a goal for each player on the line. Heading into the playoffs with Domi at third-line centre heading into the playoffs might not be the outcome the Leafs had hoped for, but if this line keeps up the way they're playing, they may force Craig Berube's hand.

The Leafs will look to string together some wins when they host the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.

<strong>Sponsored by bet365</strong>
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