Toronto Maple Leafs Must Solve Home Ice Issues
In order to become true Stanley Cup champions, the Toronto Maple Leafs have to address their issues at home.
The Toronto Maple Leafs need to figure out a way to fix the club’s Jekyll and Hyde performances when it comes to their home and away records.
The Maple Leafs have an outstanding 6-0 road record with several notable victories at the opposition’s arena. Half of those victories include defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals, and Winnipeg Jets, combining to outscore the three opponents 13-4.
Given the club’s perfect road record, matching the Nashville Predators for the best away record in the league, it’s difficult to understand how the Maple Leafs struggle at home.
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They’ve managed only a 3-5-0 record at the Scotiabank Arena, with bad losses to teams with losing road records such as the Ottawa Senators and St. Louis Blues. In fact, the Maple Leafs were outscored a combined 9-4 in the two losses and they remain the only road victories for St. Louis and Ottawa, who combine to be 2-5-3 on the road.
The Maple Leafs aren’t the only franchise to have more road victories than wins at home as the Penguins, Columbus Blue Jackets, Calgary Flames, and San Jose Sharks are all in the same boat. Toronto, however, does have the most extreme difference between the two records as all four teams mentioned also have better home records than the Maple Leafs.
For a club with aspirations of home ice advantage in the opening round of the playoffs, sorting out the home ice disadvantage must become a priority. The Maple Leafs have started the postseason on the road the previous two years and failed to advance past the opening round.
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One of the reasons behind the home ice struggles could be the severe lack of energy in the building, especially in the lower bowl. The Scotiabank Arena is located in downtown Toronto in the heart of the financial district and Maple Leaf games are often used as a way to close business deals or hold social events.
The massive price of tickets make it difficult for the general public or true fans to attend the events, therefore, the in-arena atmosphere is often met by more interest in who owns the most expensive suit or shoes than anyone who can name five players on the team.
The lack of passion and energy from the crowd due to the lack of interested personnel in attendance make it one of the least desirable places to watch a hockey game. Whereas other fan bases can be rabid and vocal from the ending of the anthems to the conclusion of the third period, Scotiabank Arena can feel like a library closed due to a holiday.
With so little emotion generating from the crowd it’s no wonder the Scotiabank Arena feels like an easy place to play. The crowd fails to provide any extra energy for the home team while also failing to disrupt or bother any game plan from the opposition. When other arenas force the away team to struggle to think cause of a high noise level, the Scotiabank Arena allows for full on conversations to be had without difficulty.
Another factor for the home ice struggles is some could argue Coach Mike Babcock chases the match-up game more often at home than he does on the road, which disrupts his team’s flow. Although it could play a small factor, its tough to imagine the result of trying to get the best matchups on the ice would see a perfect away record and a losing home record.
Regardless of what exactly is behind the major gap between the Maple Leafs performances at home and on the road, Toronto can’t afford to allow the differences to continue much longer. At some point the Maple Leafs will begin to struggle on the road and they’ll need their home ice to balance out the losses.
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Unfortunately, Toronto must find a way to get used to playing in an energy-less environment for the remainder of the regular season. As poor as the atmosphere may be, it is the lesser of two evils as starting the playoffs on the road hasn’t worked out the past two years.