Leafs get set for second half

Defence, slow starts and injuries are some of issues that have challenged the Toronto Maple Leafs in their quest to become an elite team. Through 41 games the Leafs (23-16-2) sit comfortably in third place in the Atlantic Division, nine points ahead of the Florida Panthers. That would be considered a good position for Toronto in previous seasons.

But expectations for this season rose significantly after the Leafs’ breakout 2016-17 campaign in which they qualified for the post-season for the first time in four years.

They went out and acquired veterans - including signing 38-year-old forward Patrick Marleau to a three-year, US$18.75 million contract - to help support a young nucleus which features superstar centre Auston Matthews and talented wingers Mitch Marner and William Nylander. Heading into the second half of the season, however, Toronto is still short of its goal of being an elite contender for a Stanley Cup. A 2-0 loss Tuesday to league-leading Tampa Bay and a recent 6-3 road loss to the Western Conference-leading Vegas Golden Knights showed the Leafs aren’t at the same level as the NHL’s best. Slow starts in both those losses point to a larger problem. Toronto has given up 40 first period goals, putting them in a tie for fourth-worst in the league.

“It’s definitely something we need to sit down as a team and kind of figure out because seems like every time we start slow we get our legs in the second and third period, end up playing pretty well,” Matthews said on Sunday in Las Vegas. “But when we start well and we’re skating through the neutral zone we seem to win all those games.”

In the loss to the Lightning, Tampa Bay’s weapon of choice was defence, and the Leafs had no response when their offensive stars were left off the scoresheet.