The Toronto Maple Leafs are destined to continue to fail to meet expectations if they can’t lift their performances against lesser teams.
While the Toronto Maple Leafs can bring their game against top-level opposition, it’s long been a problem that against the basement dwellers of the league, their performance slumps.
It is these games that they ought to be using to pad their scoring statistics, to pump their confidence and ensure they pick up the maximum points in the standings.
Instead, the Leafs routinely ensure their performances have the opposite effect, leaving them scratching their heads for answers when the media inevitably asks the tough questions.
Toronto Maple Leafs Consistently Fall Flat
The most recent example came in game four of this season with the Arizona Coyotes in town. Now, here’s a team that odds-makers had given absolutely no chance against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Yet when all was said and done, it was the Coyotes that boarded a flight home with two points in the bag having put up a performance that nullified any offensive threat for long periods.
This despite the Toronto Maple Leafs icing a group including Hart Trophy winner Auston Matthews (106 points), Mitch Marner (97 points), William Nylander (80 points) and John Tavares (76 points), all of whom were point-per-game or thereabouts last year.
By contrast, last year’s leading Coyotes scorer was Clayton Keller, who was their only player anywhere near point-per-game with 63 points in 67 games.
They’re a team in the stakes for expected first overall pick Connor Bedard and aren’t likely to be a factor at all in the Central Division play-off race.
Just four games into the season, the Toronto Maple Leafs weren’t able to raise their game to an elite level against lesser opposition and you could argue that they were rightfully booed off the ice at the end of a dismal second period.
It isn’t even the first time this season that the Leafs failed to lift their game either. Their opening night against the Montreal Canadiens should’ve been a winning result based on the direction of each franchise and the makeshift Habs defense.
Instead, it was Montreal that snatched a win with three NHL debutants in the line-up versus a Toronto Maple Leafs team that has had the same core group for multiple seasons now and is meant to be pushing for playoff series wins in Spring.
It’s really somewhat of a head-scratcher as to why the Toronto Maple Leafs so routinely pullback on a game that is certainly near-elite when they get going. It’s almost as if they see the opposition and decide to take the night off.
If Sheldon Keefe can’t instill a sense of urgency or at the very least a sense of pride in ensuring no team easily beats the Leafs, the post season writing is already on the wall – mentally this team isn’t strong enough and no amount of minor tinkering will fix that.