The Royal Sampler: The Toronto Maple Leafs Win Again

Reminding us that he once had a 20 goal season (and was robbed of the Norris) Morgan Rielly scored twice to move the Toronto Maple Leafs past the New York Rangers on Thursday night.

The New York Rangers previously beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in a game that was as much of an example of “getting goalied” as you’re ever apt to see.  That wouldn’t be the case last night.

Ironically, since they won last time, New York played a better game tonight than they did the last time the two teams met.

This time the Leafs prevailed by score of 2-1

Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers

The Leafs are on fire right now, winning their fifth in a row. They’ve now won ten of 11 and are the NHL’s hottest team, and likely it’s best.  I may be running out of superlatives to describe the play of Jack Campbell.

Adding to the excitement of the win is the fact that the Leafs have done what they’ve done without Auston Matthews scoring very much at 5v5.  Matthews is the NHL’s best 5v5 goal scorer, bar none, and so far has only two goals on 44 shots for a 4.4 shooting percentage.

Nine other players on the Leafs have the same amount of goals, or more, than Matthews.  Nine. And yet, they’ve won ten of eleven.  (stats naturalstattrick.com).

When Matthews scores, which he will, it will make up for when whatever bizarre thing is making them win every game right now goes away.  The Leafs are good, but no NHL team ever goes 9-1 without getting some good luck.  The fact that when that luck runs out the Leafs can turn to Auston Matthews, makes keeping at the top of the standings a realistic proposition.

The win moves the Leafs to 12-5-1 and puts them two back of Florida for second in the NHL.  Florida also leads the NHL overall, and the Leafs are now in fourth.

The Leafs have, however, played the third most games, so if we want a true idea of how they’re really doing we should look at points percentage.  In this category the Toronto Maple Leafs rank sixth, with a superb .694 points percentage.

The NHL’s best team remains the Carolina Hurricanes who have a 13-2-0 record.  The worst is still the Coyotes, but they’ve actually won two games now, so good for them.

Next up for the red hot Leafs is a game against the Penguins on Saturday night.  The Penguins were of course the team that beat the Leafs in embarrassing fashion just before they embarked on their current hot streak, so you know they’ll probably come out with a solid effort.

Auston Matthews himself may even finally score a few 5v5 goals! Not like we’re complaining.