On Saturday, the Toronto Maple Leafs capped off their Western swing road trip by coming from behind to defeat the Winnipeg Jets 4–3 in overtime. With the victory, it marked only the eighth time this season that the Maple Leafs captured two points in a game away from home. In doing so, Toronto is once again in the playoff mix with some key games coming up before the Olympic break.
Among those games include a critical extended homestand at Scotiabank Arena that is set to begin on Monday. It may be still many weeks away from the end of the season, but the Leafs need to capitalize on the upcoming five games playing at home. Why is that?
Maple Leafs need to take advantage of this opportunity
First of all, Toronto has one of the best home records in the entire league with a 16-5-5 mark. Since they have played some of their best hockey at Scotiabank Arena, they need to maximize the number of points when playing there to make up valuable ground in the standings. This is especially important because after this five-game stretch, their future schedule doesn’t include any more home stands greater than two games for the rest of the season.
Even more crucial is the fact that a six-game road trip awaits them following this home stretch, and we all know how well the Maple Leafs have done away from their stomping grounds. With an 8-11-3 record to date on the road even with the win on Saturday, they rank just ahead of the Jets, St. Louis Blues and Calgary Flames for the fourth-worst road record in the NHL this season. As a result, a disastrous upcoming five-game home stand coupled with their weakness playing extensively on the road to follow could potentially spell the end to the Leafs hopes of making the playoffs this year.
In addition, two of the five upcoming games include matches against opponents that Toronto is chasing in their division in the Detroit Red Wings and Buffalo Sabres. Four-point swing games this late into the season is always important to win to stay in contention. Two other games will also be against division leaders in the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights, making the task that much more tough. Especially with the homecoming of Mitch Marner, one can expect lots of emotions will be mixed into the games that the Leafs need to win.
Nevertheless, with the Maple Leafs focussing on making the Stanley Cup playoffs for a tenth year in a row, that motivation in itself should help drive them to success in the coming week and half. Hopefully when all is said and done, they will be comfortably in a playoff spot before heading off on their treacherous road trip through Connor McDavid and Western Canada, in addition to the daunting Sunshine State of Florida.