The Maple Leafs In My Opinion

The Leafs have been a very unlucky team of late. After firing Randy Carlyle in hope of igniting the players to perform better, they have since had trouble scoring. Under the realm of Peter Horachek, the Leafs currently boast a 1-5-0 record and have now had difficulty scoring goals. That was highlighted on the recent road trip through death valley where the Leafs managed to score just once. While many fans have begun to lose hope in this season as of January 19, I am one of the few who still have faith. But I have a reason for this. It's not because the Leafs have been playing better defensively and will eventually score goals or that slumps can only last for so long. The reason is that the slump is happening at a time where the Leafs have enough games left to make up for it. Time? But they have always been like this year after year. There is no  Think about this, since the 2012 season, the Leafs have performed poorly when it came to the most important months of the seaso...

It's been quite some time since I last wrote any piece on the Leafs, and I almost feel guilty saying this. But now that the Holidays are around the corner and much needed breaks are closer than ever, I feel it's time to resume action. And good timing too, the Leafs have been playing well as of late. With the impressive streak they have built with new additions like Santorelli, Panik, and Holzer making impacts, plus strong efforts by Bernier and Reimer, the Leafs are within inches of reaching first in the Atlantic. With the potential of a return to the playoffs for the first time in 2 calendar years, I thought I take you back down memory lane and tell the tale of the one time I saw a playoff game. We all know how the series ended, but the game I am referring to was Game 3, when the Leafs played their first home game during the playoffs in nearly a decade. The day was Monday, May 6th, 2013. I was 16 at the time. Boy was it one hell of an experience. Getting the tickets...

After seeing the Leafs come away with a bounce-back victory over the Bolts, I was happy that the team had turned the corner quickly. After all, this was the same team that was outscored 15-4 against Buffalo and Nashville in two games, and they were heavily criticized for everything from leadership to compete level. Waking up Friday morning, I turned on the TV excited to see the highlights once again and expecting to hear all the positives of the game. Would it be about JVR's big night, Panik playing well against his former mates, or the balanced depth shown in the game? Nope, I got the exact opposite of that. What I ended up with was a remark by Craig Button about how the Leafs acted after the win. Instead of the usual salute to the crowd, the Leafs simply skated off the ice and celebrated with a few fist pumps. Now, I don't really care about this, but it was blown WAY out of proportion by the Toronto media going on tantrums on how it is "so disrespectful" an...

Clear the track, here comes Weber's boomer! Unfortunately for the Leafs, he is not the only thing to be afraid of from this Predators team. Nashville currently is among the top teams in the West and show no signs of slowing down. Considering the last few Leaf games, oh no! Background Info The Predators have a healthy Rinne, new offensive pressure from Neal, and Weber's shot. These and a few others not mentioned are what makes the Predators suddenly complete for the Central Division title in just one season. They should not be taken lightly at all. As for the Leafs, they are coming off a devastating loss to a team that seems to be heading towards McDavid talks. While they have improved their position in the standing, others are catching up and taking spots away and keeping the Leafs away from the playoff picture for now. Although it is still early, losses like those could come back to haunt the Leafs towards the end if they can't get their feet off the ground quic...

I was fortunate enough to be able to get tickets and see the game tonight. However, what I was treated to was what I felt to be the most boring game of the season. A stinker loss to the Penguins was a tough one to handle, only because the Leafs made the game sort of interesting in the third period (because of course). We'll see how that goes tomorrow night. What happened and what to expect Honestly, I felt that the Leafs did a good job in making the inductees feel special for the night. I also found some excitement for Salming for his addition to Legends Row. However, the night was filled with slow pace, a dead crowd, and some bad bounces. After the respectful ceremony, the Penguins seemed in control of the game. They were easily able to take the puck off the Leafs and go the other way for an opportunity. While some of the shots were fairly easy to stop, it was the danger of the pressure that made me feel nervous for another long night. Fortunately, the Penguins did not ...

Tonight continues an ongoing tradition that the Leafs have been doing for quite some time. They will honor some of the newest inductees into the Hall of Fame (as seen above) and then host the Penguins in what should be a more exciting match then the previous one. I hope. Background Info The Penguins were on a roll, previously winning 7 games in a row before having the streak snapped earlier this week against the Rangers. They outscored their opponents 33-8 during that hot run, and is enough to put fear into Leafs Nation in what may be a long night. But fear not, the Leafs themselves are on a roll and not only take own a three game winning streak, but also have been playing some really impressive hockey of late, including a huge 6-1 win over the Bruins two days ago. While shots against continues to be a struggle for the Leafs, their offensive production and depth has been a reason for their recent success. While some of the wins came against cellar dwellers, recent wins have ...

When I checked the score after the second period, I still could not believe what I was seeing. Usually it is the Bruins that were doing the damage to the Leafs. Tonight though, the roles swapped and the Buds finally  gave the Bruins a taste of their own medicine by cruising to a 6-1 win. Let that sink in for a moment. What happened? Heading into this game, the Bruins were on fire with  a five game winning streak to boost. Considering the recent history between the two clubs, most Leaf fans were worried for the result to go against the Buds.  However, any fear that this would be a losing battle were quickly washed by Kessel's goal midway through the first period. He darted towards the wing and fired a beautiful wrister past Rask to give the Leafs the early lead. Surprisingly, the Leafs were heavily in control of the game right off the draw considering their time of possession and shots on goal (weird, right?). Yet, the Leafs were only able to leave the first wit...