Toronto Maple Leafs Feel Rust Throughout Most of Their Lineup

Losing Game 1 of their Stanley Cup Qualifying series wasn’t the way the Toronto Maple Leafs planned on starting their post-season.

In a less than brag-worthy beginning to their play-in round, the Toronto Maple Leafs were shutout 2-0 by the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 1 of the best-of-5. One roster was awake and ready, while Toronto simply was not.

Admittedly, in my predictions for how I saw this round going, I outlined a fairly high level of expectation on how Toronto would start it off. They did not live up to the analysis.

My game by game breakdown assumed they would come out flying in their first game, from start to finish. The Maple Leafs did anything but, as they appeared slow and sluggish the whole way through.

Blue Jackets Set to Battle

Beating the Blue Jackets was never going to be easy, but completely shutting out such a prolific Maple Leafs offense seemed far fetched. Following Game 1, it became Toronto’s reality.

Not to detract from the shutdown success or timely goal-scoring of the Blue Jackets as the reasons they earned their win, the Maple Leafs lost more so because of their lacklustre performance.

For as fast as Toronto can be, with the type of creativity they’re capable of, and the production they typically have no problem finding, it was as though they hadn’t played together in months.

The break certainly didn’t slow down the Blue Jackets, as Columbus maintained complete control of this game. They only needed to capitalize on one of their many scoring chances to secure the win.

While missed opportunities, sloppy passes, and defensive blunders didn’t help Toronto do themselves any favours with getting off to a good start as the favourites in this series.

However, there was one bright spot that is worth shining attention towards. And if it wasn’t for Frederik Andersen, this loss could easily have been a much bigger blowout than the 2-0 score illustrates.

Steady & Ready Freddie

Andersen hasn’t been known for particularly strong starts to any new set of games, beginning a season, or with recent playoff runs. This past year saw some of his worst personal numbers, too.

With all of that time off between meaningful gameplay, it became anyone’s guess as to what Toronto should expect of him heading into their Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

Yet it was obvious from the first shot faced that he was poised and ready to perform. Andersen stopped 34 of 35 shots for a .971 save percentage in Game 1. The reasons for this loss are far from being his fault.

Not only do those stats showcase all anyone would need to see to assume the way he played, what’s missing is the number of times Andersen bailed out his team.

Failing to get out of their defensive end resulted in a variety of high-quality chances for Columbus, but Andersen was locked in. He even found ways to see the puck through every screen he faced. He did his job and then some.

As consistent as his teammates were at not taking advantage of offensive opportunities to get on the board, Andersen was the one positive constant throughout their entire roster.

It may seem like reaching for straws to point out success for a Maple Leafs team that didn’t earn any as a group through this match, but highlighting a solid start in net is deserved. It sets a necessary tone for Toronto.

Time will tell if Frederik Andersen can keep up this type of play throughout the post-season. It’s a performance worthy of shattering any negative expectations of him going into this series. Now it’s up to his teammates to start doing their job, too.