Even When the Toronto Maple Leafs Lose, It’s Impressive

The Toronto Maple Leafs are a team that has won approximately 80%  of the points available to them since October 27th.

This run has seen the Toronto Maple Leafs go on a six game winning streak, three five-game winning streaks, and another set where they won four in a row and lost to Colorado in OT of the fifth game, taking nine out of ten points.

We’ve seen Matthews score 24 goals in his last 24 games, and Mitch Marner go on an eight-game tear where he scored at an 82 game pace of 200 points.

And yet, it’s when the Leafs lose that you can see what a truly great team they are.

Toronto Maple Leafs Lose the Flames

Like the time the Leafs somehow lost to the Coyotes, this game was a win everywhere but on the actual scoreboard.  In hockey, this happens sometimes. Nothing you can do about it.

Teams who get 30 shots halfway through the game don’t usually lose.

Teams who get 30 shots halfway through the game despite giving the other team five power-plays might never have lost a game before.

Players on eight game goal streaks who get ten shots on net (and 12 individual scoring chances) don’t usually have their streaks end.

There will only be one or two times in his entire career that Jack Campbell lets in three goals on three shots.

In the end, the Leafs dominated this game.  They had over 60% puck-possession, and they had 48 shots.

I once lead a poker game for hours, had an enormous stack, was probably going to win close to $1000 dollars,  then I exited the game in about two minutes after back-to-back pocket aces both lost.  This was that kind of game for the Leafs last night.

With Mitch Marner on the ice, last night, the Leafs had 23 shot attempts, while Calgary had 8.  That kind of dominance rarely goes unrewarded, so kudos to the games first, second and third star Jacob Markstrom, who is the only reason it wasn’t 6-1 before Calgary scored their three late second period goals.

Another positive about last night’s game: The penalty killing was spectacular.  According to the broadcast, at one point Mitch Marner was outshooting the entire Calgary power-play with just his short-handed shots alone.  This was after three or four Calgary power-plays.

When I see a game like this, I actually appreciate this version of the Toronto Maple Leafs even more than I normally do. I think to myself, if this is was has to happen for them to lose, then that’s pretty amazing, because these kind of things won’t happen too often.

Two goals on 48 shots?  OK, sure, whatever. (stats naturalstattrick.com).

The Toronto Maple Leafs have won a lot of games this year where they likely deserved to lose.  They have Marner, Matthews, Tavares, and Nylander, and that means they outscore a lot of their problems.  It’s partially what makes them such a tough team.

But the gams where they actually lose, and deserve to? Those are extremely rare.  The games where they blew big leads to New York and Colorado were pretty bad, but at the same time, even those games were unlucky and fluky. Those games were similar to last night’s in that the goalie was mostly to blame.

When they lost to the Jets, December 6th, 19 games ago was probably the last time they played badly and lost.  That is incredible.  We are witnessing a historic team that people aren’t even fully aware yet of just how good they are.

Last night really was one of their better games of the year, and if Jack Campbell didn’t fall asleep halfway through the second, they’d have won their seventh in a row.