Toronto Maple Leafs Give Hutchinson Start, Playoff Probability Rises

The Toronto Maple Leafs have won three games in a row.

The Toronto Maple Leafs kicked off the post Mike Babcock era with a win against the Arizona Coyotes, in what was probably their best all-round game of the season.

They then needed only a period each to defeat the Avalanche and the Red Wings.

To say it’s been a great start under Sheldon Keefe would be an understatement.

Toronto Maple Leafs Give Hutchinson the Start

Tonight the Leafs will take on the Sabres in the first of a back-to-back situation. Insanely, it is their seventh such instance of the season.

They haven’t done very well so far, but they’ll get another chance starting tonight.

The Leafs will give the net to Hutchinson for the road game.

This is a departure from Mike Babcock who always used Andersen in the first game.  To be honest, since both games are against Buffalo, I’m not sure this matters.

What I thought was dumb about Babcock’s strategy was that he always used his best goalie in the first game, even when the first game was against an easy team than the second.

For instance, back in October Babcock used Andersen in a game against the lowly Minnesota Wild, then used Hutchinson against the vastly superior Washington Capitals.

There’s just no justification for how dumb that is.

We will hopefully see a more flexible strategy from Keefe, and since Hutchinson is playing tonight, that seems to be the case.

As for the playoff probability, the Toronto Maple Leafs now have an over 80% chance to make the Playoffs this year after winning the last three games.  This according to the Athletic.

My favorite part of this chart is that it says the Leafs have a better chance to win the Cup than Buffalo has to make the playoffs!!

This is nice and everything, but there’s never really been any doubt about the Leafs making it.  Of course, any team can get unlikely, but regardless of the early season slump – which was highly influenced by the schedule and injuries – the Leafs have one of the best rosters in hockey.

In  fact, I’d go so far as to say that when fully healthy – something they haven’t been in 2019 – they are easily the best team.

There just aren’t many teams that can counter the Matthews-Tavares 1-2 punch, and none of those teams can follow suit with a Nylander-Marner combo.

So, to sum up: the Leafs are great, they will make the playoffs, and Hutchinson will play in net tonight.