The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to be the NHL’s best team, even after what was probably their worst week of the season.
Two losses to the Vancouver Canucks? Without their best player? Almost seems like poetic justice for all the Toronto Maple Leafs fans mocking the Edmonton Oilers after the Leafs did the same thing to them right before losing to the Canucks.
And speaking of the Canucks, what ever possessed them to change from their awesome black and yellow jerseys into a generic blue one that is one of the worst in the NHL?
Doesn’t matter. The reason we have gathered today is to do a quick rundown on the NHL scoring race and standings.
Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL Standings
The Leafs continue to dust the Canadian division, but the Tampa Bay Lightning have made some real progress and now have a higher points percentage and are just two points back with three games in hand.
Still, it’s amazing that people continue to think the Leafs are beating up on bad teams when the Lightning play in a much, much worse division. The Panthers and Blackhaws actually have winning records – that is how bad that division is. Those are not good teams.
The Oilers, Canadians and Jets would all be competing with Carolina for the title of second-best team in that division. It is brutal, and the Lightning’s record is not at all impressive.
As for the scoring race, McDavid is running away with it with 45 points. The Leafs go cold for two games and suddenly Marner is 11 points back! (All stats from quanthockey.com).
Matthews and Marner have dropped to fourth and fifth, respectively, in even-strength scoring, owing to a Matthews’ injury and a couple off off games. Still, Matthews is just four points behind in this (harder, arguably more important, but much less recognized) race, and has played four games less.
Patrick Kane and Mr. Rhodes Scholar himself, Mark Scheifele have both moved into the top five in the overall scoring race. I expect Marner and Matthews to both get hot again and at least challenge for the Art Ross in the second half.
When it comes to goals, despite missing three games this year, Matthews is still leading the NHL with 18. His 18 goals in 23 games put him on a 64 goal pace over a full season, and let me remind you that he hasn’t scored in almost two weeks.
Ah yes, the Toronto Maple Leafs continue to lead the NHL in both of the most important categories: most points and best goal scorer.