The Toronto Maple Leafs kicked November to the curb after what felt like a month filled with struggles.
The defense of the Toronto Maple Leafs lost Mark Giordano and John Klingberg to long-term injuries to go along with Timothy Liljegren who has been out since late October.
Despite what felt like some of the worst played hockey in the Core Four era, the team still finished the month with a 7-3-2 collecting 16 of a possible 24 points.
They sit third in the Atlantic Division, just three points behind the Florida Panthers with games in hand of the teams ahead of them and behind them. This is the best outlook the team could have for what feels like a mediocre start is figuring out the team and finding a comfort with each other.
Toronto Maple Leafs Players Finding Their Roles
Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi are two players whose games jumped this past month as they found their roles on the team. After it appeared that both had atrocious starts to the year, Bertuzzi has found chemistry playing alongside John Tavares as the pair are winning their 5 on 5 ice-time and the former Detroit Red Wings picked up six points in 12 games.
Shockingly, Domi has found himself as the third line center which not many people would have thought was possible due to his defensive inabilities. However, Keefe has put the Swiss Army Knife in Calle Järnkrok on his wing which has created balance. Domi has also found chemistry with Nick Robertson after the rookie was called up ten games ago. The two have combined to record 12 points in those games.
Goaltending over the month was good, not great, but good enough to get the Toronto Maple Leafs points. Joseph Woll is slowly taking over as the number one goalie, but I still don’t see him starting more than 50 games this year. Woll started seven of the 12 games, also picking up a win in relief for Ilya Samsonov in one of the games. Over eight games, Woll put up a 5-3-0 record with a 3.25 GAA and .903 Save Percentage over the month.
Do not write off Samsonov, as he was arguably more impressive over the month than Woll. If you take away the one troublesome game against Tampa Bay when he was pulled 15 minutes in the game, the Russian goalie posted a 2-0-2 record with a 2.40 GAA and .926 Save Percentage over his four other games.
Going into the month of December the team will have to lean on their superstars and here is a look at who was their top three stars of the past month.