The Toronto Maple Leafs came away with a 6-3 win in the big apple last night.
The Toronto Maple Leafs scored first (again), and let the game go back and forth before really tightening up their game in the third period and coming away with the victory against the Rangers.
This is largely thanks to William Nylander (2G 1A), Mitch Marner (2G), and Auston Matthews (2A) along with a solid performance from the third line, namely Pierre Engvall and Ilya Mikheyev, who both scored a goal apiece.
But I’m not here to talk about last night’s game. I’m here to talk about tonight’s game.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are going to be facing off against the Detroit Red Wings tonight for the second half of their back to back.
As of now, the lineup looks like it’s going to stay the same as last night aside from the switch between the pipes. Michael Hutchinson will be in line to start his first game since November 29th against the Sabres, a 6-4 loss.
Hutchinson’s Struggles
It’s no secret that Hutchinson has been struggling this season. If you’re a regular reader, then you’ve seen these stats a million times. But on the off-chance that we have a new face here, I’ll repeat them again.
In six starts this season, Hutchinson has a record of 0-5-1 with a goals against average of 4.55 and a save percentage of .876. These stats are obviously nowhere close to where you’d want your backup’s stats to be, but Hutchinson has simply struggled in every opportunity he’s gotten.
He hasn’t allowed less than four goals in any of the starts he’s had. And one thing I’ve noticed in particular is that goals scored against him usually come in bunches. Once he allows one, he allows a ton.
Look at his first game against Montreal. The Leafs had a 4-1 lead with 15 minutes left. Then the Habs proceeded to score four goals in a row. How about the game against Washington in mid-October? Leafs had a 2-1 lead going into the second period. Then the Caps scored three goals in under two minutes.
And finally, why don’t we look at his last start against Buffalo. 2-0 early in the second period, and by the end of the period it’s 4-2 Buffalo.
Did the Leafs play perfect hockey in all of these games? Is Hutchinson solely to blame for every single loss? Has he had to deal with perfect circumstances? No, no, and no.
But the reality is, the Leafs aren’t where we want them to be at this point. And they really aren’t in a position to hand two points to any team. Hutchinson hasn’t exactly gotten the easiest of tasks, but you need your backup goalie to steal a win for you every now and then, and he hasn’t done that.
In my eyes, tonight should be Hutchinson’s last chance to maintain his role as the backup goalie. Yes, it’s on the second half of a back to back, but wins simply don’t come much easier than a home game against the Red Wings.
We’re talking about a Red Wings team that carries a league-worst goal differential of -62. The next worst team has a differential of -39.
Tonight should be an easy game for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Key word being should. They simply can’t stroll in and take shifts off just because it’s the Red Wings. They need to keep their foot on the gas pedal and play a full 60 minutes. And hopefully an effort like that will be enough to get Hutchinson his first win of the season.