Pace of season leaves Leafs little time to enjoy streak
When lugging around playoff baggage like the Maple Leafs, rare is the opportunity to set it down and truly appreciate a good regular-season run.
One that doesn’t prompt killjoys to point out there are still eight weeks to go. And that with the elation of this seven-game win streak, their longest in 20 years, comes trepidation that a) they’re peaking too soon, and b) recent success is disproportionate against the opposite conference rather than teams they’ll face in April.
February isn’t finished yet, the band is still likely being broken up to some degree by next week’s NHL trade deadline, while six of their 22 remaining games are measuring stick matches against their most recent Eastern postseason antagonists, Florida, Boston and Tampa Bay.
So as they winged home from an impressive fourgame Western trip, improving them to 22-5-2 on that side of the fence, including wins over Vegas and Colorado, they knew upon landing that plenty of work remains.
They can take brief respite to revel in the second-best point total in the league since Jan. 1, with their current highest goals-per-game average (3.68), the monster season of Auston Matthews and the circuit’s second-best power play, plus the turnaround of two vital cogs, goalie Ilya Samsonov and winger Tyler Bertuzzi.
“There’s belief in what they’re doing, belief in the group,” head coach Sheldon Keefe told media in Denver after Saturday’s 4-3 win. “End of a long trip where a lot of things have been going our way ... you’re going to need a night where the goalie gives you reason to dig in.
“There was a lot of fatigue tonight, some because of the trip and some is the opponent and the (souped up home game) they play.”
Defenceman Morgan Rielly watched the team win all five games he missed while suspended and two since his return.
“We’ve just been wellrounded, playing within structure,” he said. “Late in games that are close, we’re keeping composure, managing pucks and it seems we’ve taken a step in overall growth.”
Samsonov, portrayed as a pariah in public when his slump necessitated a team timeout, can’t rest on his laurels with Joseph Woll due back to challenge him and current backup Martin Jones for crease time. Samsonov quickly changed the subject when the team’s roll and his nine wins the past 10 games was raised.
“I don’t think about this. It is special for me with the hard start to the season. I just focus on the next game, the next puck.”
Mitch Marner is among those who have never experienced seven straight wins here, last accomplished by the 2003-04 Pat Quinn Leafs as part of eight consecutive when Mats Sundin, Alex Mogilny, Bryan Mccabe and Ed Belfour were the stars.
But even with his highspirited persona, Marner was keeping things in perspective.
“It’s been exciting and a lot more fun around the locker room when you’re winning. But we just have to make sure we’re doing the right things. When we’re doing stuff right on the ice, it’s showing.
“We’re going back home to another challenging team (a rematch with Vegas tonight) and we have to make sure we’re ready for that.”