The Maple Leafs are playing their best hockey of the season. Can they keep it up?
Scotiabank Arena felt like a party Saturday night. It hasn't been that way for a long time.
TORONTO — Craig Berube was running through the reasons his Maple Leafs team has been so consistent lately. The head coach seemed to lose count.
“We’re healthier, for sure. Goaltending, for sure. We’re more stabilized, I think, with goaltending injuries and stuff early on. We scored goals all year, to be honest. I know the power play hadn’t, but we were scoring. We’re defending a lot better. We’re keeping the puck out of our net and that’s the biggest difference. (The penalty kill) has been good all year,” Berube said.
Once Berube took a breath, the only sound that could be heard was optimism ringing through the streets of Toronto.
Following a 5-0 steamrolling of the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, the Leafs, for the time being, feel back. Their season no longer looks on the brink as it did when they sank to last place in the Eastern Conference in late December.
The Leafs have not lost in regulation since Dec. 22, when they made their only notable change of the season, firing assistant coach Marc Savard. They own the second-best win percentage (.889) over that nine-game stretch, and are also second in goals per game.
That’s not to say Savard’s firing was the reason the switch seems to have flipped. It’s just that so much of what haunted the Leafs through the ugly months of November and December is no longer evident.
The list of reasons for positivity around this Leafs team is the longest it’s been all season. All of them were accentuated in Saturday’s uber-dominant win.
Yes, the enthusiasm for the Leafs on Saturday should be tempered by the fact that they beat up on a hapless Canucks team. The Canucks’ performance in Toronto made their spot at the bottom of the Western Conference feel generous. When was the last time a visitor’s jersey was thrown onto the ice in Toronto, the way a vintage black Canucks jersey was at the end of their tepid first period?
You can only play the team in front of you, though. The Leafs who walked over the Canucks look nothing like the Leafs who felt one lit match away from exploding in mid-December. As a result, it’s all coming together for the Leafs over this nine-game stretch.
Goaltending? The duo of Joseph Woll and Dennis Hildeby is approaching the elite levels of Woll and Anthony Stolarz from last season. The pair continues to belie Stolarz’s lengthy injury absence.
Woll looked calm and sound in his movements against the Canucks, stopping all 29 shots for his second shutout in five games. This comes after Woll was the backbone of Tuesday’s 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers, stopping 31 of 32 shots. Hildeby has also become a bona fide NHL goalie, rocking a .939 save percentage over his last three games.
Even if Stolarz returns soon from a still-unknown injury, there’s a very real case that neither Woll nor Hildeby should see their opportunities diminish. It’s a good problem to have for Leafs goaltender coach Curtis Sanford. Three strong NHL goalies could bolster Toronto’s playoff chances moving forward.