The Toronto Maple Leafs have six games remaining on the schedule before the playoffs arrive, and the team is in great spirits. They are currently in the middle of a four-game winning streak and sit atop the Atlantic Division. Over the last month or so, things have been going the Leafs’ way, and they could potentially claim home-ice advantage for at least two rounds. In this stretch of great form, Toronto has had plenty of players in the lineup step up and play their best hockey of the season.
Maple Leafs Hot At The Right Time
In the last 10 games, the Maple Leafs have suffered only one regulation loss and have an 8-1-1 record. Only the St. Louis Blues have a better run in that span, as they are in the middle of a 12-game winning streak. As mentioned, Toronto are on a four-game winning streak. During that stretch, they beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, Florida Panthers, Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings. It’s such a critical time for a team to get hot going into the postseason, which is something the team hasn’t experienced in the past.
Last season, Toronto finished with four straight losses. In the end, they lost to the Boston Bruins in the first round of the playoffs. The year before that, they had a four-game win streak to build off going into the playoffs. As a result, they advanced past the Tampa Bay Lightning to see the second round for the first time since 2004. How a team plays in the playoffs is what ultimately matters. However, the performances leading up to the postseason certainly help and play a role in the team’s morale, form, and spirit.
It also helps with the way that Craig Berube coaches the team. The Maple Leafs are comfortable in all situations these days. They are one of the best teams in the league at holding leads this season and are comfortable in low-scoring affairs. In addition, they can keep up with the best of them in terms of scoring goals. With Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares, as well as Mitch Marner dishing them the puck, goals have hardly been an issue this season. However, it will be interesting to see how that translates to the playoffs, an area where Toronto has struggled with Sheldon Keefe.
Who’s Pulling The Weight?
Toronto has been getting some of the best hockey all season from some players. The best example of this would be Tavares. Since March 1, the former Maple Leafs captain has scored 14 goals. He has the second-most goals in that span behind Buffalo Sabres centre Tage Thompson, who has 15. That’s just one player who’s stepped up for Toronto lately. Nylander and Matthews have been leading the way in team scoring since March 1, and they’ve been getting secondary scoring too.
Matthew Knies and Max Domi have been right there with the ‘Core Four’ in terms of production and executing their roles. Knies has five goals and 15 points in his last 18 games. In Toronto’s 5-0 win over Columbus on Saturday, he made his presence known. Knies had an assist with several high-danger chances. With that, he had six shots and four hits and some praise from Berube postgame. As for Domi, he has five goals and nine points in the same number of games as Knies. He’s averaging a point every other game, which is drastically better than the first half of his season.
The defence pairings have been nothing short of solid either down the stretch. Since the addition of Brandon Carlo from the Bruins, the team has slowly been improving in the goals-against department. Furthermore, since March 23, Toronto has only allowed a league-best 12 goals against. This has a lot to do with Carlo and Morgan Rielly hitting it off on the blue line. “I thought Brandon Carlo was really good, not that other guys weren’t, but he stuck out,” Berube said after Saturday’s game. “I thought he had an excellent game, just eating pucks, killing plays, simple. He’s a vacuum,” he said.
Everything seems to be going well for the Leafs on their quest to win the division. They’ll look to keep that mojo going in their next game against Florida on Tuesday.
Main Photo Credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
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