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What’s Ahead and Behind the Toronto Maple Leafs Right Now

By James Tanner

UNIONDALE, NY - FEBRUARY 26: Toronto Maple Leafs Center John Tavares (91) sets up in front of New York Islanders Goalie Robin Lehner (40) during a game between the New York Islanders and the Calgary Flames on February 26, 2019 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. (Photo by John McCreary/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
UNIONDALE, NY - FEBRUARY 26: Toronto Maple Leafs Center John Tavares (91) sets up in front of New York Islanders Goalie Robin Lehner (40) during a game between the New York Islanders and the Calgary Flames on February 26, 2019 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY. (Photo by John McCreary/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off a hollow victory against the Flyers last night.

The victory was nice, but the Toronto Maple Leafs probably were lucky to get it. 

They only played two games this week, and they took three of four points, so that’s actually quite excellent.

IF you look at their last four games, they won twice, and lost in overtime once.  Only the Canadiens game was bad, and they came back from a 2-0 decificit only to fall off a cliff in the third period, which was the last period in a crazy stretch of games in which they played three sets of back-to-backs in a 12 day period.

I think it’s completely fair to discount that game, and say that the Leafs have gotten points in their last three games that count.

So it was a light week, but not  a totally terrible one for the Leafs.  For me it was good too, as I appeared on the Ari Shapiro Show, and did a roundtable with Ari, Mick Sloniowoski, and Canadian broadcasting legend Tony Ambrogio.

Toronto Maple Leafs Going Forward

The Leafs are going to get John Tavares and Zach Hyman back this week.  That means that they’ll probably also make a trade.

We can hope they trade Cody Ceci instead of sabotaging their depth, but who knows?

The Leafs have four games this week – Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday.

Three of them are at home – against the Kings, Knights and Flyers – then they hit the road Sunday for a game against the Blackhawks.

The Leafs should beat three of these dud teams automatically (Kings, Flyers, Hawks) and they should have no problem at home, while rested, against the Golden Knights.

A week from now, I damn well expect to be talking about a five game winning streak, and a six game point streak.

A prolonged period of victories is exactly what the doctor ordered, and with the team approaching full health, it isn’t too much to ask.

Four games, John Tavares returning, a chance to watch Vegas vs Toronto (I have watched most of Vegas games this year, and they are  a treat to watch) and chance to right the ship: it’s an automatically great week for the fans, and a potentially great week for the team.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs can put together some wins, get healthy, and put the fanbase at ease, it will be a great week for the team.  I know where only five minutes into the season, but it doesn’t seem like the Leafs have had too many great nights, let alone weeks.

Next. Leafs Top Ten Prospects. dark

Just score keep Nylander on the top power-play unit once Tavares is back. That’s all I ask.

Have fun.  I know I will, because, quite honestly, I still can’t get over the fact that the Leafs have a team that features, Nylander, Rielly, Marner, Matthews, Tavares, Kapanen, Johnsson, Barrie and Muzzin.  This roster is amazing, the team is great and glory is going to be bestowed upon us very shortly.

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