Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 Stars for the Month of January

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LAVAL, QC – NOVEMBER 13: Toronto Marlies left wing Pierre Engvall (47) skates in control of the puck during the Toronto Marlies versus the Laval Rocket game on November 13, 2018, at Place Bell in Laval, QC (Photo by David Kirouac/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

January was somewhat of a roller coaster ride for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After starting the month out with consecutive three-goal victories, the Toronto Maple Leafs went on to drop five of the next eight games.

They ended up finishing with a 5-3-2 record which and a .600 points percentage, which was bettered by only 10 teams.

Yet again, another month of this season was defined by injuries. Jake Muzzin was injured near the end of December and missed the first eight games of the month. Needless to say, the Leafs blue-line did not fare well in his absence.

Joining Muzzin on the I.R was arguably the Toronto Maple Leafs most important defenseman, Morgan Rielly who broke part of his foot blocking a shot and is out for eight weeks.

While the results Toronto garnered were nothing to write home about – pretty good, but not great – there were still some standout performers throughout the month.

Let’s take a closer look at three of them in our stars of the month post.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – DECEMBER 03: Pierre Engvall #47 of the Toronto Maple Leafs controls the puck as Justin Holl #3 trails on the play against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center on December 3, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /

3rd star – Pierre Engvall

Pierre Engvall started the season as an afterthought on a Toronto Maple Leafs team overflowing with fourth line options (Nick Shore, Pontus Aberg, Garrett Wilson, Dmytro Timashov, Jason Spezza, Nic Petan etc).

The former seventh round pick surprisingly made the team and carved out a regular shift for himself. Envall has been one of the biggest surprises on the Leafs this year.

The objective in hockey is to score more goals than your opponents. No Maple Leafs player fared better at doing so than Pierre Engvall. No, seriously.

He was on for nine goals for and just four against at 5v5. His Goals-For of 69.23% was best among regulars on the roster, as was his plus-5 differential. (Stats naturalstattrick.com).

Engvall played a big hand in that, too. He picked up points on six of the nine goals he was out for. Each point was primary as well; only Mitch Marner (8) registered more at 5v5.

As if his full-strength success wasn’t enough, Engvall played a hair under 12 minutes on the PK. He was only on for one goal against during that time.

It was a very good month across the board for Engvall, who continues to prove he is an everyday NHL player.

TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 1: Mitch Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates after scoring the game winning goal against the Ottawa Senators in overtime at the Scotiabank Arena on February 1, 2020 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andrew Lahodynskyj/NHLI via Getty Images) /

2nd star – Mitch Marner

Marner is paid to put up points in bunches.

He once again did just that in January. He led all Toronto Maple Leafs players with 13 points in 10 games. Impressively, 12 of those points were primary (three goals, nine assists).

Nikita Kucherov (15), Alex Ovechkin (14) and Steven Stamkos (14) were the only three skaters to record more primary points than Marner. Nobody in the entire league piled up more primary assists (9).

Marner’s on-ice numbers were strong as well, as he finished with a ~52 Corsi For% and ~59 Expected Goals For%.

He played like a $10.98M player.

Marner also made his first career trip to the all-star game in St. Louis. For Marner, the month of January was a continuation of his hot play in December. As of Tuesday, Marner was the second leading 5v5 scoring in the NHL since he came back from his injury.

If the Leafs are going to make a playoff run, Marner will have to continue to rack up the points.

OTTAWA, ON – OCTOBER 12: Making his NHL debut, Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs poses with the 4 pucks with which he scored his first career NHL goals after a game against the Ottawa Senators during the season opener at Canadian Tire Centre on October 12, 2016 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images) /

1st star – Auston Matthews

Matthews continues to terrorize goaltenders in pursuit of his 1st Rocket Richard trophy.

He found the back of the net nine times in just 10 games – and was absolutely full marks for it. Only six players recorded more shot attempts than Matthews (82) while he out-paced everyone in terms of scoring chances (51).

When a player with his shooting talent generates chances like that, he’s going to fill the net. It’s as simple as that.

While Matthews finished with an even goal differential at 5v5, the Maple Leafs recorded 35 more chances than they gave up with him on the ice (59.07 SCF%). His on-ice results probably should have been as impressive as his individual outputs.

Matthews is putting up goals, points, and solid peripheral stats in what – if he keeps it up – will start to garner him Hart Trophy consideration.

Matthews has 21 goals in his last 23 games, which is an insane 75 goal pace. No one has scored 60 in the NHL since Steve Stamkos did it in 2011, but Matthews needs 23 in the final 29 games to do so.

Next. Leafs Top 10 Prospects 2020. dark

As for now, he’s the Toronto Maple Leafs first star for the month of January.

Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell

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