Two areas are powering the Maple Leafs' surge, but there's reason for caution
Photo credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
The Toronto Maple Leafs are on fire lately, winning seven of nine and while their special teams deserves a lot of credit, they'll need to shore things up at 5 on 5.
If you told Maple Leafs fans a month ago that the team would be only one point out of a playoff spot and have seven of their last nine games, you'd probably be laughed out of the room considering the team was failing in just about every regard.
However since the Christmas break ended, the team has been red-hot, going 7-0-2 and clawing their way back into playoff contention.
Toronto's special teams are driving their hot streak
A lot of that has to do with the turnaround from their special teams. After firing Marc Savard, Steve Sullivan has transformed the power-play into one of their greatest strengths and pulled them from the basement of the NHL leaderboards.
Derek Lalonde on the other hand has turned the penalty killing units into a nightmare to deal with, and the stats recently show a team who can seemingly do no wrong:
Since Dec. 27, the Maple Leafs are tied for first in the league with a 38.9% PP success rate, while holding first alone with an astounding 95% PK success rate.
That's driven a lot of the team's success, however there's still something the team needs to make sure they have locked down come playoff time: 5 on 5.
But the even strength needs to be just as good going forward
The analytics have been solid over the same stretch but they have a bit below average possession numbers. They've also given up 18 goals at even strength out of their 19 total and are spending much less time in the offensive zone than they should be.
Come playoff time, penalties are a bit weird honestly. Referees tend to let a lot of things go given the circumstances, and if Toronto can't keep things level and balanced at 5 on 5, then it's going to be tough.
The team already gets the short end of the stick with officiating at times, and if they don't get calls their way then that power-play doesn't get out much. On the flip side, they can't depend on their penalty killing being perfect all the time, and the team needs to stop taking such needless penalties.
Case in point, the team gave up four power-plays to the Canucks on Saturday including multiple too many men infractions. They can't make those errors when one goal can make or break their season.
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| POLL | ||
JANVIER 12|799 ANSWERS Two areas are powering the Maple Leafs' surge, but there's reason for caution Will the Maple Leafs be able to sneak into the playoffs? | ||
| Yes | 731 | 91.5 % |
| No | 68 | 8.5 % |
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