Toronto Maple Leafs Struggles Likely to Continue on West Coast Road Trip
The Toronto Maple Leafs have lost four of their past five games and their struggles are likely to get worse before they get better.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will head west this week for a four-game road trip to face the three California NHL franchises before wrapping up the trip in St. Louis. Given Toronto has been outscored 22-12 in their past five games, the road trip could get ugly for the Maple Leafs if they aren’t able to turn around their recent stretch of poor play.
Toronto’s first game of the trip was on Monday night against the San Jose Sharks. It was an emotional game for Patrick Marleau, as the former captain of the Sharks returns to the city he spent 19 seasons with while scoring over 500 goals. Despite goals from Auston Matthews and Nazem Kadri, the Leafs fell to the Sharks 3-2.
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It doesn’t get any easier after San Jose, as the Maple Leafs will then have back-to-back games against the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings starting on Nov. 1. The two teams are a combined 7-2-2 at home through the first month of the season.
Anaheim might be Toronto’s best chance of a victory on the road trip given how the Ducks can’t seem to stay healthy. It seems as if every game a new player goes down after defenseman Cam Fowler was lost last week, and Captain Ryan Getzlaf has been in and out of the lineup.
The Kings, on the other hand, might be the toughest game on the entire trip since the Maple Leafs will play them on the second night of back-to-back games. On top of the back-to-back, Toronto is the only team this season to defeat the 9-1-1 Kings in regulation. Los Angeles will no doubt be looking to avenge the loss they suffered in Toronto just nine days after the defeat.
This California swing is a grueling three-game test for every NHL franchise that enters the state on their annual road trip. It’s hardly surprising when teams leave the state after three games without a victory or point in the standings. In the past three seasons, the Maple Leafs have only managed a record of 1-8-1 on their West Coast road trip, suggesting all signs point towards Toronto’s recent struggles likely continuing.
If visiting California wasn’t bad enough, the Maple Leafs will wrap up their road trip with a game against the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 4. The Blues are tied for the league lead with 19 points in the standings with their 9-2-1 record, including a 4-0 home record. St. Louis is also another location the Maple Leafs have struggled as over the past four seasons they’ve gone 1-3 while being outscored 16-9.
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Given how poorly Toronto has played over the past 10 days along with how poorly they’ve played in the cities they’ll soon be visiting, the Maple Leafs could be about to enter their worst stretch of the season. It’s road trips like these that make losses at home to the likes of the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers sting twice as much.