Blinksportsnews247The Toronto Maple Leafs are not going to be able to play for the Stanley Cup every single game because they are not a sixty-minute team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs consistently play to the caliber of their opponents, giving bottom dwellers numerous opportunities to win.
They have most recently given up standings points to the Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators, and Columbus Blue Jackets.
They have most recently given up standings points to the Buffalo Sabres, Ottawa Senators, and Columbus Blue Jackets.
They should be scoring goals in these games and demonstrating unwavering will to pick up two more points if they want to genuinely establish themselves as the top team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Work on This Aspect of Their Game Badly
It’s simple to point the finger at poor goaltending, individual player slumps or injuries, or even the hangover from Christmas, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are not strangers to this kind of play.
This club lacks a genuine killer instinct—a pattern that has persisted for a number of seasons.
Even worse is the fact that these players defeated the league-leading New York Rangers 7-3 and the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-0 when they faced each other.
The group has struggled for some time with their outcomes’ total lack of consistency. Whatever you want to call it—lucky bounces, out-goalied, whatever—I don’t think the Toronto Maple Leafs are a serious Cup contender until they figure it out.
You have to really consider whether the team’s play has become a little lethargic given the way it has lost these games.
The Leafs led the Ottawa Senators 2-0 at the end of the first period before giving up a shorthanded goal and letting them score four goals in a row to win the game. This one again didn’t belong to Leafs goaltender Martin Jones; rather, it belonged to the team that chose to coast through the second period.
The Maple Leafs were defeated 9-3 after holding a 2-1 lead at one point versus Buffalo. You might argue that Buffalo was given a bit of a raw deal because Ilya Samsonov is clearly having trouble, but even so, this club lost a lead; it’s not like they had no chance.
The Toronto Maple Leafs’ offensive prowess shouldn’t allow them to lose 5-0 to a lottery team, despite the Columbus game demonstrating the squad’s tenacity. Fortunately, the same ability carried this one into overtime in the third quarter before giving up the point.
However, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ incapacity to maintain leads or perform at their best against weaker teams was evident in each of these games. It’s difficult to see much more than another first- or second-round playoff departure in the near future until they figure it out.
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