The Toronto Maple Leafs have had a rough patch lately. After blowing a 2-0 lead to the Edmonton Oilers to end up losing on Tuesday night, Toronto was sent looking for answers.
It is hardly a shame to lose to the Edmonton Oilers right now as this win was their 11th in a row. However, the streak has to end at some point and the Leafs blew a multi-goal lead once again. This time, they couldn’t even get a standings point out of the game as they blew it in regulation.
This was the fourth loss in a row for the Maple Leafs who are so fragile right now. They have only four regulation wins in their last 14 games. Oh by the way, two of those four were against the San Jose Sharks who are dead last in the NHL.
That’s not even the worst stat of them all when it comes to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Only the Chicago Blackhawks, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets, Montreal Canadiens, and Minnesota Wild have fewer regulation wins than the Leafs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs haven't been very good over the last few weeks
Maple Leafs fans have to be disgusted with this stat. Those teams that have fewer regulation wins are all terrible. Macklin Celebrini will most likely be on one of those teams. That is the company that the Maple Leafs keep if you don’t include winning in 3-on-3 or shootouts (both of which don’t exist in the playoffs).
How can the Leafs be this bad with the core four there? Well, the truth is that when Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares are all buzzing, the Leafs can beat anybody.
However, their depth at forward and on defense just isn’t good enough. They also play a game that’s incredibly soft and easy to play against for the good NHL teams.
Yeah, the Leafs will beat up on bad teams from time to time. As they are playing right now though, they have no shot if it’s a contender on the other side. Once the Oilers were down 2-0, they buckled in and drove the bus from there.
Luckily, the Leafs did build themselves a little bit of a cushion with some of those OT/shootout wins so they are still third in the Atlantic Division. However, they are only two points safe of being out of a playoff spot entirely. They need to get going and fast.
Their stay in Alberta is not over. They will play the Calgary Flames next on Thursday night. At this point, it is fair to call it a must-win.