Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 Stars in November and Recap

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.

Toronto Maple Leafs 3rd Star of the Month

Auston Matthews – 12GP | 7 G | 6 A | 13 Pts | 20:57 TOI
You may wonder how Auston Matthews numbers were so high despite scoring just one goal over his last nine games, it was because he had such a hot start to the month where he collected six goals in the first three games, including his third hattrick of the season.

Matthews does appear to be battling some mishaps as he has struggled to control the puck of late, but at his worst he is still one of, if not the best player on the ice.

The former first overall pick had what most would consider a down month, but it would still put him on pace for 48 goals and 89 points over an full 82-game schedule.

For the entirety of the season so far, Matthews is still on pace for 55-goals for the year and once he gets on fire again, 60 won’t be out of the question.

Mitch Marner was just beat out for this spot as he finished the month with 15-points to tie for the team lead thanks to a hattrick on Thursday night.

Marner had not looked like himself to start the year, however his last five periods, which happened to come after putting on full face protection he had easily his best hockey of the season to cap off the month.

There is a good chance, Marner is ready to go on one of his scorching hot streaks; time to sit back and enjoy the magician.

Toronto Maple Leafs 1st Star of the Month

Morgan Rielly – 12 GP | 1 G | 8 A | 9 Pts | 25:57 TOI
Probably the most underappreciated player on the Toronto Maple Leafs is that of former fifth overall pick Morgan Rielly.

While you will never mistake him as a true number-one defenseman that are saved for names like Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Erik Karlson and Drew Doughty; Rielly is a bonified #2 defenseman on any team.

Rielly is the one star player on the team that plays with grit every shift and with the team having one of the weakest defensive cores in the league, Rielly stands out as the one legit blue liner that is making a positive difference every night.

Since the Klingberg injury, Rielly has resumed his spot on the top powerplay unit and has seen his minutes rise.

He eclipsed 30-minutes on Tuesday nights overtime game against the Florida Panthers and has played over 26-minutes six times in November, including another contest where he skated for 29:57 that came at the beginning of the month.

Rielly also had a pair of multi-point games over November, including a three point game against the Minnesota Wild which came with netting his only goal of the month. (all stats nhl.com).

The British Columbia native currently sits top 15 in blue line scoring, while also sitting seventh in average ice-time.  Rielly has always been under valued around the league and with the All-Star Game back in Toronto, there could be a chance that fans see #44 skating in his first mid-season festivities.

Rielly now sits fourth in games and points by Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman and needs just 28-points to catch Tim Horton for third.