The Toronto Maple Leafs were utterly destroyed by the Carolina Hurricanes.
But the Toronto Maple Leafs managed to come away with two points. The Games Number One Star was Freddie Andersen. He also should have been named the second and third star.
Even though he let in a softie that made it closer than maybe it might have been (the Leafs nearly blew a three goal lead with ten minutes left in the third) Freddie A was incredible. He made 43 saves in the win.
For the third straight game, the Leafs allowed the opposition to get ten shots before they got two. Incredibly, the Leafs have picked up 50% of the possible points in these games.
New Look Lineup
Last night the Leafs dressed a new look lineup that didn’t feature Moore or Martin. They basically dressed the best possible lineup they could (barring Kapanen coming in for the seemingly awful Soshnikov).
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While this didn’t work out like it might have, I hope the Leafs don’t give up on trying it. Tonight’s game will feature all the scratches back in the lineup, and that makes sense, since it’s back-to-back. I do think, however, that they shouldn’t judge this idea by a single game.
Still, it was probably the Leafs worst game of the season. If not for an extremely shaky Cam Ward, and an amazing performance by their own goalie, this game wouldn’t have paid off two points. In fact, if it was 4-0 Carolina after one, I don’t think anyone would have batted an eye, based on the Leafs play.
That said, it’s not like Matt Martin and Dominic Moore were going to make a difference. The Hurricanes had 80% of the shot-attempts in the first period. They finished with 70% of them, overall. That’s not even a domination, that’s an outright bludgeoning.
Lucky to Win
The Leafs were lucky to win – it’s a long season and you don’t always get the result you deserve. They do, however, need to be aware of a recent trend and work towards fixing it. That trend is this: In their last ten games, the Toronto Maple Leafs have had + 50% possession just twice.
The fact that they are 7-2-1 is very lucky. If the team’s bad play didn’t just happen to coincide with an incredible hot-streak by their goalie, they could have gone something like 2-8 and suddenly made their Playoff hopes disappear.
Right now the Leafs look like a lock to make it, and if this is the worst stretch of play they go through, then they will for sure. However, if they continue to let teams dominate them and rely on Andersen to continually bail them out, the winning ways won’t last.
Next: What Can Leafs Learn from Oilers?
On paper I think the Toronto Maple Leafs have the NHL’s best team. It’s high time they started playing like it.