The Toronto Maple Leafs were lifted to a 5-4 victory over the Dallas Stars this past week by their "Core Four" as they were again responsible for each of their goals.
To say that the Toronto Maple Leafs have lacked depth scoring would be an understatement with how the season has gone.
The team is seeing a franchise historic pace of goals by superstar Auston Matthews, while William Nylander is following his breakout season from 2022-23 with an equally impressive year and Mitch Marner is doing Mitch Marner things.
John Tavares is included in the Core Four, but even he is having a down year as he has just 15 goals through 49 games which puts him on pace for 25 goals, which would be his lowest in a full season since his rookie year.
The Maple Leafs captain can thank a recent scoring streak that helped him give his pace a jolt as he has goals in three consecutive games, while prior to that stretch there was some worry he wouldn't crack the 20-goal mark this year.
The Three Big Guys that Need to Get Going
Tyler Bertuzzi would be the face of disappointment this year. The Toronto Maple Leafs biggest free agent signing of the off-season at $5.5 Million (credit: CapFriendly.com), he has recorded just six goals and 21 points on the season, which five of those six tallies came in the first 20 games of the season (credit: hockey-reference.com).
Bertuzzi has not scored since December 27 and has just one goal since November 28; while he did snap a three game pointless streak on Wednesday night he has not recorded a primary point since January 14.
Unlike Bertuzzi, Max Domi has not gotten the opportunity that the former Detroit Red Wings has received this season, but he is still lacking offensively. Domi does have the most points of any forward not part of the Core Four with 20 through 49 games, but has just four goals.
Domi looked like he was getting hot in late December as he tallied eight points in as many games, but has gone cold since that streak ended. The second generation Maple Leaf forward has just two points over his last 14 games and has not scored since January 13 which was ten games ago.
The Swiss Army Knife known as Calle Järnkrok at one point looked like a lock to score 20-goals again this year with ten goals through his first 37 games, however, coupled with being knocked out week-to-week just prior to the All-Star Break and a recent slump he will be unlikely to reach that mark.
Even before being knocked out of the line-up, Järnkrok, like others was going through an unreal cold streak. The 2022 free agent signing had gone nine games without a goal and had gone 20 games registering just three points.