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Toronto Maple Leafs Are Much Better Than the Edmonton Oilers

By Stephen Nixon |
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 5: Zach Hyman #18 of the Edmonton Oilers skates against Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on January 5, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Oilers 4-2. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 5: Zach Hyman #18 of the Edmonton Oilers skates against Mitchell Marner #16 of the Toronto Maple Leafs during an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on January 5, 2022 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Maple Leafs defeated the Oilers 4-2. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

The Toronto Maple Leafs showed why it takes a full team effort to be victorious in their big win against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

It was an interesting first 30 minutes in the Toronto Maple Leafs game on Saturday.

Noel Acciari kicked things off with a quick goal in the first period, but by the early part of the second period, the Oilers were up 3-1 after a fantastic goal by Connor McDavid.

McDavid, who scored his 55th goal, is the clear-cut favorite to sweep the NHL awards, with the Maurice “Rocket” Richard, Art Ross and Hart Trophy this season. He’s the best player in the league this year, but he can’t do everything.

Even if he scores two goals a night, the team isn’t guaranteed to win. As good as he is, the Oilers are only winning his minutes this year by 6 goals.

The Western Conference is weak, so they’ll have a decent chance at making it through to the Finals, but that still feels unlikely. First, the team’s defense isn’t good enough and there’s no way the combination of Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell in-net is going to lead them to many playoff wins.

Toronto Maple Leafs  Have the Better Team

Connor McDavid was the best player in the game, but Toronto’s combination of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares is better than McDavid’s supporting cast.

Leon Draisaitl is one of the best players in the league and could bump out Matthews or Marner if he was on Toronto, but Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman are not as good as Tavares and Nylander, which was shown on Saturday night.

If you’re looking at stats alone, you could argue that Nugent-Hopkins and Hyman are just as skilled.

  • Ryan Nugent-Hopkins: 30 goals and 79 points
  • Zach Hyman: 29 goals and 72 points
  • William Nylander: 34 goals and 78 points
  • John Tavares: 30 goals and 64 points (via: hockeydb.com)

Despite having similar stats, Edmonton’s No. 3 and No. 4 forwards are not as good as the Leafs. Hyman is a beneficiary of McDavid, while Nugent-Hopkins is with Draisaitl. Those two could not carry a line, while Tavares and Nylander can.

After getting blasted by the Oilers last week, it was a great team effort to comeback and beat them during Hockey Night in Canada. It would have been very easy to fall apart after going down 3-1, but the core-four did what they needed to do to win.

Matthews doesn’t have to be the best player on the ice for Toronto to win and even in a down-year, the team is excelling. If McDavid had a down-year, the Oilers may not even be a playoff team, so Toronto’s ability to play at a high-level, despite Matthews being the team’s forth-highest scorer is a great example of team-play.

Next. 3 Reasons Why Leafs Will Win Cup. dark

Kudos to the team for a few comeback victories against the New Jersey Devils and the Oilers this week, as it should give them some great momentum down the stretch and into the playoffs.

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