Toronto Maple Leafs: Standings Paint Positive Picture

The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Vancouver Canucks last night.

It wasn’t the best performance – they barely beat a terrible team made even worse by their injury trouble, but the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to pull out the come-from-behind victory.  In a shootout, no less. (After last year’s terrible Shootout record, I’m always expecting the worst after 60 minutes).

With the win, the Toronto Maple Leafs have now played 43 games and have 52 points.  This is good for third in the Atlantic – Boston has the same amount of points but four games in hand – and if the season ended today the Leafs would start on the road against the Bruins in the first round.

I know 2011 has a lot of people nervous about facing the Bruins, but I like the way the Leafs match up against their team.  Toronto can basically muzzle any team’s first line – at least at home – by throwing Auston Matthews out against them.  Boston isn’t a terrible team, but the Leafs are way deeper, and the Bruins are far too dependent on one line to get wins.

The way things are going in the Metro, you could win the Atlantic division and end up playing the Blue Jackets or the Penguins.  I don’t care who has a better regular season record, I’m way more comfortable playing the Bruins anytime.  It might actually be better to not win the division.

Second Half

The Leafs are in a good position heading into the second half.  They have an 11 point cushion (though have played three more games) over Detroit, who are the next closest to them in the Atlantic.  Barring an epic collapse, the Leafs should have no problem making the Playoffs and avoiding the Wild Card position.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are fifth overall in the East, and 10th overall in the league.  Their +17 goal differential is sixth best overall, suggesting they are probably better than the 10th best team in the NHL. (Though there are other numbers which suggest the opposite).

The Leafs have a great home record and have played six more road games than home games, and have been without Zaitsev and Matthews (two of their best and most important players) for significant portions of the season.  Should they remain healthy, they should be able to use all the extra home games in the second half to climb the standings.

The Leafs also have the least OT/Shoot-Out  losses in the NHL, which makes their record even stronger.   The Devils, Jets and Burins have really been padding their totals with loser points.

The Toronto Maple Leafs next play on Monday night – at home – against the Blue Jackets, who will be playing a back-to-back and most likely will not dress Sergei Bobrovsky.  That should make for a fun game.

Next: Travis Dermott Debut Review

Standings and Stats from NHL.com