The Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Win More at Home

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been one of the NHL's better teams on the road this season.

The Leafs boast a very strong 11-3-5 record on the road this year, which is one of the top road records in the entire league.

However, contrasting this strong road record is their record at home, where they are 10-7-2, which at best is just OK. (This does include their win last night vs San Jose).

The Toronto Maple Leafs poor play at home also ended up costing them in the playoffs last year, and they'll need to turn it around if they want to go on a deep run in this year's postseason.

The Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Win More at Home

As mentioned before, the Leafs have been very strong on the road this year. This is further emphasized by their recent California road trip, which saw the team go a perfect 3-0 against the Kings, Ducks, and Sharks.

However, not being able to win many games at home may cost the Leafs come playoff time.

0The Leafs are currently secure in a playoff spot with a record of 2-10-7, which sits them 3rd in the Atlantic division, 5 points behind the Florida Panthers. (Priort to last night's game).

While the Leafs are certainly capable of beating the Panthers, ideally they want an easier opponent in the first round of the playoffs.

Speaking of the Panthers, the Leafs poor play at home was a big reason why they lost to Florida in last year's playoffs.

The Leafs finished last year's postseason with a strong 4-1 record on the road (including 3 straight wins vs Tampa Bay), but their home record was almost the complete opposite, at a very rough 1-5 record at home, including 3 losses in a row vs the aforementioned Panthers.

On top of this, Joseph Woll's numbers at home are quite underwhelming.

At home this year, Woll is 4-4-1 with a 3.45 GAA and .893 SV%, which is a massive drop-off from his stats on the road. For those who are curious, he owns a very impressive 4-1-0 record and 1.76 GAA and .950 SV%.

Now while Joe Woll is not the only one responsible for the Leafs poor home record, his stats do show the massive contrast between their play at home and their play on the road.

Whoever's fault it is for this poor play at Scotiabank Arena, whether that be the players, goalies, Sheldon Keefe, or everyone combined, the Leafs need to be more consistent at home. And while playing well on the road is a great thing to have, it's not good to follow that up with poor play at home.

Good news for the Leafs is 3 of their next 4 games are at home, and they'll want to use these games to improve their play in "The 6ix".

Let's see if they can do it.