3 Toronto Maple Leafs That Actually Played Well and Deserve Praise
It’s been a couple of days now since the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated from the play-in series against Columbus Blue Jackets and it sucks.
It’s been a couple of days now since the Toronto Maple Leafs have been eliminated by the Columbus Blue Jackets and it sucks to be honest with you.
However they played a pretty good series against a pretty good and well coached team, although they are the better team and should’ve won the series.
With that being said there were some stand out players on the Toronto Maple Leafs who played great in the five games against Columbus.
3. John Tavares – 29 years old – C
2019-20 play-in series stats – 5 GP – 2 G – 1 A – 3 PTS
At my number three spot to start this list is the teams captain, John Tavares. Now when you’re looking at his stats through the teams five games against Columbus it may not seem all that impressive coming from a first line centre who is playing 20 minutes a night.
However the puck just wasn’t going in for the Toronto Maple Leafs and it was hard on the team and it was hard for the fans to watch this team that is such an offensive juggernaut but they just couldn’t score.
Other than the team not being able to score with the amount of shots they took throughout the series, Tavares was one of the few players who kept shooting and was all over the ice making plays and trying to help lead this team to victory.
John Tavares notched two goals along with one assist for three points through five games, and after being pretty invisible in game one he stepped it up through games two to five and gave it all he got but it just wasn’t enough for this Toronto Maple Leafs team to get passed Columbus and their solid defence core along with their two stud goaltenders as well. (Stats NHL.com)
TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 29: Frederik Andersen #31 of the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
2. Frederik Andersen – 30 years old – C
2019-20 play-in series stats – 5 GP – 2 W – 3 L – 1.84 GAA – .936 SV% – 1 SO
At my number two spot on this list I have the back bone of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Frederik Andersen. Despite what people have been saying about Frederik Andersen this year, he played amazing through five games against Columbus and the loss is really obscuring his amazing performance.
Andersen finished the series with a 1.84 GAA and a .936 SV%, he also had a 0.50 GAA and a .981 SV% through the teams first two games, but I don’t hear people talking about that either.
All they talk about is the two soft goals he let in, one in game one and another one in game five. Other than his two soft goals he played great, we were all questioning and wondering from the start if he would step up and prove everyone wrong in the play-in series because of his poor and inconsistent season this year, and he did.
Although the Toronto Maple Leafs did ultimately lose to Columbus, this one isn’t on Frederik Andersen. The team got shut out twice in five games, Andersen can’t score the goals he is the one stopping the goals from going in their own net.
It’s very rare that one of the NHL’s best offensive teams gets shut out twice in the same week, as Toronto only got shut out once during the 2019-20 season. (Stats from NHL.com)
SUNRISE, FLORIDA – FEBRUARY 27: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs . (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
1. Auston Matthews – 22 years old – C
2019-20 play-in series stats – 5 GP – 2 G – 4 A – 6 PTS
At my number one, and with little doubt, there is Auston Matthews. It shouldn’t be a surprise to people that Matthews is on this list, as he was by far the best Maple Leaf during the play-in series against Columbus.
From the first puck drop in game one to the final buzzer in game five, Auston Matthews proved to everyone that he is the best player on the Toronto Maple Leafs and already one of the best players in the league.
At the young age of 22 he has grown his defensive game a ton during this season and it showed a lot in this series as he played a great two-way game. On top of Matthews putting up two goals and four assists in five games he was also top of the team in takeaways, hits, and blocked shots.
It seemed like Auston Matthews was the only player that gave it his all every game, other than Tavares who also played a good series he was invisible in game one. Marner and Nylander played a decent series but it wasn’t too impressive either and they only showed up in short bursts throughout certain games.
If the puck went in more for Matthews I can say this series probably would’ve went Toronto’s way, however they shot just under 2% in five games as they couldn’t get bounces and Columbus’ goalies were unstoppable. (Stats from NHL.com)
dark. Next. Blockbuster Trade the Leafs Can Try to Make
Though we have highlighted the Leafs three best players, its not as if any of their players were truly bad. Full credit to the Blue Jackets goalies for the win.