BACK IN ACTION

As holiday break ends, goalie Frederik Andersen and the Leafs have some ambitious goals in sight,

Their much needed — and well deserved — four-day Christmas break is over.

Now, the Leafs assemble in Phoenix Wednesday to begin a postChristmas break filled with promise and opportunities.

Milestones . . . a home-heavy schedule . . . a chance to reclaim the second overall spot in the Eastern Conference . . . the Leafs can build some benchmark accomplishments over the next month or so and set themselves up for a strong finish to the season.

Here are five things to watch for as the team comes out of the Christmas break:

Goalie Frederik Andersen entered the break with 19 wins, third most in the NHL. With Toronto at just 37 games, Andersen is on pace for 40 or more victories, which would be a career high. That accomplishment would certainly help underline a good season for the team.

For Andersen, it would solidify his arrival as one of the top five goalies in the NHL. It’s very debatable that he belongs in that group right now. He’s faced more shots (993) than any goaltender in the league and sits a very respectable seventh in save percentage (.924). He has started 30 games and could see another 40, which would be a 70-start season, and surpass his career high of 66.

Both Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner worked seasonhigh minutes in the Leafs’ 3-2 win in New York on Saturday, which was their final game before the break. At the moment, the defencemen should see peak ice time levels, at least until Nikita Zaitsev returns from injury.

Rielly reached 20 assists in Saturday’s win, which puts him on pace to surpass his career high of 29 from a year ago. Gardiner’s ice time is at 22:21per game so far this season, well above his career average of 21:15. These are important developments for a Leafs blue line that is continually under scrutiny, with frequent talk centring on whether the team should upgrade the star power among its defencemen.

Toronto’s sched- ule for January features 13 games, 10 of them at home. The first six are on home ice and includes visits by Tampa — the first-place club in the East — on Jan. 2 and a visit Jan. 31 by the New York Islanders, who are three points behind the Leafs in the Eastern Conference standings. Right now, just five points separate seven teams with legitimate shots at second place.

James van Riemsdyk and Tyler Bozak are enjoying whatcould be their best season together since they became stalwarts in the top 6-9 forwards five seasons ago. Van Riemsdyk, in fact, is having a season where he is on pace for a career high 38 goals.

Bozak’s offensive numbers are below his normal pace at the moment, but his 53.8 Corsi is well above his career mark (48.5), as is his offensive zone start percentage of 57.3 (career is 50.9).

This is the player that everyone in the NHL is watching. Matthews ranks top 5-10 in the league. But part of that includes numbers on offence, and Matthews has missed 10 games so far with injuries — setbacks which have impacted his offensive potential.

Right now, Matthews is on pace for 38 goals — still a tremendous output, even without the injury time considered. With his talent level, another 40 goal season is certainly possible.

Whatever the case may be, Leafs fans have a true superstar in the fold. And the question may be how Matthews leads the team to the postseason, not how many goals and points is he capable of.