The Toronto Maple Leafs lost their second game in a row to a team at the bottom of their conference.
On Friday, the Toronto Maple Leafs blew a two-goal lead to the Chicago Blackhawks, and last night they barely showed up for a game against Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Before losing two games in a row, the Leafs were on a streak where they won five of six, but before that, they had lost four in a row.
The thing that makes this so concerning, is that the win streak in the middle of those six losses was basically fraudulent – the Leafs were playing horribly and getting rewarded (in the five games they won, they blew a multi-goal lead or came back from one four times).
If not for that luck, they would be in the basement with Ottawa and Columbus, and they’d have lost 11 of their last 13. They would be in free-gall and the city would be going insane.
As it is, I am not sure most observers have realized how bad of a hockey team the Toronto Maple Leafs have been so far this year.
Toronto Maple Leafs Are In Free-Fall (Hidden By Good Luck)
Despite a solid effort in the third period, the Leafs were brutal last night in the first two periods and were lucky to still have a shot at a comeback in the third (which they did not manage).
The Third line (Domi/Robertson) had their first bad game since being put together.
The first line remained non-threatening.
And TJ Brodie was just unfathomably bad.
Each of the first two goals were pretty much 90-100% his fault, while he also took a lazy puck-over-the-glass penalty that put the Leafs down two men.
At this point I'd like to apologize to the people from last summer talking about buying out TJ Brodie. I thought you were idiots, but clearly you nailed it.
— Editor in Leaf (@EditorinLeaf) November 26, 2023
Shoulda, woulda, coulda....
The Toronto Maple Leafs blue-line is so bad that it’s ruining the team. It’s bad enough that they have to dress William Lagesson and Simon Benoit in the first place, but the fact that there are three players above them that are all negatively impacting the team is an outright disaster.
Jake McCabe has been at least OK since returning from injury, but his previous bad play dating back to last year’s playoffs makes it hard to trust him. (naturalstattrick.com).
Mark Giordano and T.J Brodie are just as bad as John Klingberg was. Every night they take what could be a Leafs win and ruin it. There is no way Giordano should still be getting a regular shift, and having Brodie on the top pairing is basically a crime at this point.
The Toronto Maple Leafs should be getting desperate, and only a couple weeks of lucky wins and a light schedule hid the fact that they are having an epically bad season.
Supposed GM Brad Trelving remains MIA.