The Toronto Maple Leafs won a big game last night.
Of course, some members of Leafs Nation can’t enjoy it: they’re mad that the Toronto Maple Leafs had to go to overtime against the lowly Ducks.
Though people were psyched to the moon when the Leafs added a fourth liner and a back-up goalie, it is apparently not a big deal that three of the best players in the entire NHL were absent from their lineup.
The Leafs were without William Nylander, Morgan Rielly and Freddie Andersen, so essentially any points they picked up were a bonus.
Lucky for them, they’ve got arguably the deepest team in the history of the NHL Salary Cap Ear, and they crushed it.
Despite the game needing overtime, the Leafs edged the Ducks 3-1 at 5v5 while getting 71% of the dangerous chances and 65% of the expected goals. (Naturalstattrick.com)
I’d say that’s a pretty good game playing without you’re 1A winger, your best defenseman and one of the world’s best goalies.
Toronto Maple Leafs Last Night and Tonight
I didn’t think Jack Campbell had a great game last night, but it must have been a bit of a crazy week for him, so I’ll give him credit for the win and not worry about a couple of the lamer goals.
Kyle Clifford played 12 minutes with no special teams time. (He’s not going to play on the PP, and while he make get PK minutes, statistically he is a bad penalty killer).
Sandin and Liljegren didn’t play very much – 13 and 11 minutes respectively.
They both put up respectable numbers and didn’t allow any goals against, so for a bottom pairing featuring two rookies, I don’t think you can complain too much.
As for tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs will take on the Montreal Canadiens in Montreal.
I don’t know how many games the Leafs have played this year where they played a second night in a row, after traveling against a team that is at home and well rested, but it’s more than average.
The injuries, the bad coach, learning a new system, terrible goaltending and a ridiculously unfair schedule all have more to do with the Leafs current record (which is not as good as it should be) way more than their defense that people never stop complaining about.
Despite every defenseman putting up positive differentials in every single way we have to measure hockey player performance.
Despite playing most of the season with at least one of their top six injured.
But then again, like I said earlier, people were happy the added a fourth liner and a back-up goalie, but say that missing three of the best players in the world from their lineup shouldn’t matter.