Weekend Wins Have Maple Leafs Fans Breathing Easier

That’s what happens when a team, projected to be one of the top squads in the Eastern Conference, goes on a west coast road trip and loses four in a row, including to lower-rung teams like the Anaheim Ducks. That’s even truer in this hockey market anyway.

Remember this is an organization based in a hockey capital that hasn’t won a playoff series in almost 20 years. Plus there’s the fact the Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup since the Beatles were in studio recording albums. 

So the organization is operating on a razor’s edge when talking patience and tolerance vis à vis the local fanbase. Four losses in a row featuring meagre efforts by a team that tops out in player payroll (a cap hit today of $89,254,163, with $4.3 million in cap space because of a neck injury to defenceman Jake Muzzin, placing him on the long-term injury reserve list) caused the fanbase and social media to explode with even more intensity than seasons past. The players and management know full well the current mood of Toronto sports fans. 

So Sunday’s 3-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes – not exactly dregs, sitting in second place in the Metropolitan Division at 8-3-1, behind the New Jersey Devils – has people (especially players and management) breathing a little easier. The Leafs are now 7-4-2, good for third in the Atlantic Division. Their current “run” included a 2-1 win over the first-place Boston Bruins Saturday night. 

That win was a surprise, considering they lost another goaltender, Ilya Samsonov, to a knee injury on a Brad Marchand penalty shot. The Leafs have already been without their other co-No. 1 goalie, Matt Murray, out with an adductor injury (although head coach Sheldon Keefe says to expect Murray back on the ice for the team’s skate tomorrow, before their game tomorrow night at home against the Las Vegas Golden Knights).

There were good news stories that came out of Sunday’s game (despite the Leafs being outshot 11-4 in the first period). The ‘Canes are led by former Leafs goalie Fred Andersen, who left as a free agent two summers ago, 5-3 on the season so far. 

The Leafs goaltending hasn’t been the same since Andersen left. And with the Samsonov injury (which looks longer term) they were forced to bring in Erik Kallgren, who started the season in the AHL. No one is confusing Kallgren with a legit No. 1 NHL goalie. Still, he stopped 29 of 30 shots against Carolina and came on for the injured Samsonov the night before against Boston to start the third period, making some big saves (seven total), especially during a series of Boston power plays, to salt the win.

The Leafs’ power play was sixth in the NHL  (26 per cent) going into the Carolina game, but the penalty kill was 23rd in the NHL (76.1 per cent). Still, last night, with his game-winning goal, captain John Tavares now has five points (4 goals and one assist) through his last three games (one away from 400 goals in his career). 

Mitch Marner had the primary assist on Tavares’ goal and extended his points streak to six games (one goal and eight assists). Auston Matthews is currently on a four-game points streak, with six points (four goals and two assists). And William Nylander, on a line now with Matthews (interesting to see if the Nylander-Matthews and Tavares-Marner tandems stick tomorrow night against Las Vegas) has been heating up of late, as well, with a goal last night (five-game points streak, with one goal and five assists).

The Leafs are now 5-1-0 against Eastern Conference teams so far this season. For bettors, the big question for the Leafs going into their game Tuesday against the Knights, and then the Pittsburgh Penguins Friday and Vancouver Canucks Saturday, will be goaltending. The team announced the signing over the weekend of AHL goalie Keith Petruzzelli (who has a 5-0 record with the AHL’s Marlies) to a contract. With that LTIR cap space, and the impending return of Murray, we expect they’ll keep their power dry and not use that extra money on goaltending. But if the Penguins or Canucks blow them out, the tide will turn fast, and the masses, with fire and pitchforks, will be at the gates once again.