The Toronto Maple Leafs should be considered Stanley Cup favorites once again.
After a terrible road trip, the Toronto Maple Leafs bounced back and secured five of a possible six points against three of the best teams in the NHL.
Not only is that impressive enough, but they did it with Erik Kallgren in-net for seven of the nine periods.
Kallgren did his job, but the Leafs defense was so good on Saturday and Sunday night that they could have had David Ayres in-net and still won. Their team defense really bailed out thier below-average goaltender and made his job incredibly easy.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Stanley Cup Contenders
However, that changed on Tuesday night against Vegas. I know this isn’t a hot-take, but did anyone else think that crowd sucked?
I know it’s the usual business-type crowd on a week-night but that was one of the worst crowds I can remember, especailly when the team was playing one of the better teams in the league. It looked like nobody was in the building and the atmosphere was dead.
Obviously that’s not a new take, but it was pathetic to watch as a Leafs fan and it kind of blended into Toronto’s performance.
As formerly mentioned, the Leafs defense looked similar to the crowd on Tuesday night; lifeless. They gave up a terrible goal to start the game and that continued throughout the game.
Kallgren actually played very well but his team let him out to dry on multiple goals throughout the night, especially the game-tying and game-winning goal.
Although the defense was struggling against Vegas, they did show promises against Boston and Carolina, which is huge. And at the same time, they secured five of six points, which looked impossible if you asked anyone that question prior to that three-game set.
So why do I think they’re Stanley Cup contenders?
Well, it’s pretty simple. They are seemingly playing up to their opponent and then down to their opponent this year. They’re struggling against terrible teams but are playing great against the good teams and that’s always a good sign for great teams.
Sure, it would be way better if they steamrolled the bad teams, but the only thing that matters is if they can compete with the best teams, and that’s clearly not a problem right now. I’d much rather them beat the good teams and lose to the terrible teams than vice versa.
Securing five of points against three of the best teams in the NHL should bring a ton of confidence to this team and the fact they did it with Kallgren in net is even more impressive.
We’ll see if this hot-streak can continue, and we’ll also see if Matt Murray gets the nod soon. However, the Toronto Maple Leafs are back and fans should be ecstatic about thier performance over the past four days.