Toronto Maple Leafs Still In Search Of Consistent Play
After beating the Buffalo Sabres 2-1, the Toronto Maple Leafs are enjoying back to back wins – but their overall play leaves much to be desired.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were 10th in score-adjusted fenwick, a desirable place to be if you want to contend for a playoff spot, but it’s a skewed storyline through ten games.
The Leafs are capable of being a 10th place possession team but, much like the love for Frederik Andersen, they’re riding a roller-coaster with the puck.
In both of their wins against Edmonton and Buffalo, the Leafs were outplayed at 5v5. Being outplayed at 5v5 and winning games is akin to playing with fire and trying not to be burned. Eventually it catches up to you.
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Both Edmonton and Buffalo were likely disappointed in the outcome of the game, but not their own performance in general.
It’s early, and most of the team is still learning about the NHL, but the Leafs will have to nail down some sort of consistency if they’re going to continue to give teams trouble.
Allowing a significant amount of shot attempts against is a recipe for disaster that will bring bad results in a hurry. Also, if they can control the play consistently that makes Frederik Andersen’s life much easier.
On some nights the Leafs have looked great and dominated possession. They may not have enjoyed the desired outcome, but they played a good game of hockey. Other nights they’ve played bad at evens and got what they deserve.
The past two games have been cases of a goaltender stealing a win for a team that struggled in front of him. That’s something that shouldn’t go unaccounted for, especially when Andersen took a beating from the media and fans in October.
Marner, Nylander and Matthews have a knack for making you forget about some of the bad things that happen, but documented events don’t get erased.
The Leafs need to work on being a consistent hockey team, even if they don’t plan on making the playoffs, because doing it now will make them that much better for next year.
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