Editor In Leaf
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Toronto Maple Leafs Gameday: Keeping Vancouver In The Basement

By Tim Chiasson

Oct 12, 2016; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) in the first period against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators defeated the Maple Leafs 4-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 12, 2016; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) in the first period against the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Senators defeated the Maple Leafs 4-2 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs look to win their third straight, but in better fashion than the first two.

The Toronto Maple Leafs find themselves staring at yet another winnable game before the puck is even dropped.

Let’s call the Vancouver Canucks what they are: a bad hockey team. They’ve been shut out in four of their last five games.

The Canucks are the lowest scoring team in the league and are averaging under one 5v5 goal per game. That is incredibly bad. They’re also one of the worst possession teams in the entire league.

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The saving grace for Vancouver is that their goaltending has been above average and keeping them afloat, and by afloat I mean out of dead last instead of 26th in the NHL. Both Markstrom and Miller are playing above expectations right now, which should be the real test for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Now, things don’t always go according to plan.

Against the Sabres, the Leafs should have been able to control possession – but they didn’t. The Canucks are even worse than Buffalo in this department, but it’s up to Toronto to find consistency in puck possession to control the game.

Toronto has the firepower and speed to blow this game open early if they can bring the Canucks goaltending down to earth.

Storylines

  • Mitch Marner and Tyler Bozak got going again in the last game, but they are still waiting for Auston Matthews to find his magic again after going pointless in his fifth straight game. The monkey on his back is gaining weight every day.
  • Nazem Kadri seems to be playing with more fire since the early goings of the Edmonton game. Even though he’s in a defensive role, he’s still a huge threat offensively and he’s hot right now.
  • Frederik Andersen is riding the roller-coaster of Leafs Nation and right now he’s got a view from the top. Facing an offence that should be on the back of a milk carton is a great opportunity to keep that view, if he’s the starter of course.
  • Gardiner played more in the Buffalo game than normal, but he’s still shackled to Polak. At some point the Leafs are going to have to rework their pairings again because what they’re doing now still isn’t working.
  • With how bad the Leafs defence has been, why on earth hasn’t Frank Corrado been given a chance? Carrick hasn’t been great, Polak is Polak and Marincin receives a lot of hate and little icetime. Surely Corrado can be given a look over one of these three.

Tonight is the night that Auston Matthews finally has good play translate into score-sheet success. That is my great prediction for tonight’s game.

Next: Leafs Acting As Conditioning Facility

These are games the team has to win, not games the goalie needs to steal. It’s early in a low-expectation year, but the Leafs need to get into the habit of winning games with complete play when they should.

There are plenty of games the Leafs should lose to keep them out of the playoffs, but the Vancouver Canucks aren’t one of those games.

Puck drop is at 7ET.

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