Streak spurred by Windy City win
The text came in unsolicited, right after Maple Leafs forward William Nylander pulled a win out of the fire with a breakaway deke in Chicago. A member of another team’s front office sent it.
“That comeback may have saved jobs.”
Even if there is nothing concrete to suggest things were quite that perilous for the Leafs back on Oct. 27, it’s telling that there were those inside the industry and well beyond the city limits who believed it.
It was bad, remember. Like a 7-1 loss to Pittsburgh bad, and a 2-4-1 stumble from the gates bad.
The Leafs had already lit the match on a firestorm of their own making when they fell behind the then-winless Blackhawks 2-0 at the United Center. Of that quick fiveday road trip, which included a practice in Chicago prior to the final game, one member of the team remarked that it felt like “everyone was losing their s---.”
They were.
The emotions even spilled over in the dressing room, where multiple players spoke forcefully during the first intermission, planting the seeds for the strong response we’ve seen since. John Tavares scored in the second period, David Kampf tied it with less than eight minutes to play in the third and Nylander finished the job.
“I think it was critical for us to switch it like that,” said Alexander Kerfoot, reflecting back on the tumult this week. “The Chicago game wasn’t great, but being able to grind out a win there, coming back in overtime, getting that late goal in the third, I think that that really galvanized us as a group.
“We kind of took off from there.” They’ve rocketed directly to the
upper echelon of the NHL standings in the three-plus weeks since. Facing another Saturday night encounter against Pittsburgh, they’ve quickly restored some calm.
And while it’s easy now to look back and say this kind of dramatic turnaround was inevitable, nothing more than an expected regression to the mean, that ignores some key facts. The Leafs have ripped off 10 wins in 11 games, even as the schedule has gotten tougher with games against Vegas, Tampa Bay, Boston, Calgary and Nashville, among others.
That also discounts how high the temperature was turned up in the moment. This was a group still finding its feet following another difficult playoff exit, and the opportunity to melt was readily available.
Instead, with that momentumswinging win in Chicago, they swung the pendulum back in the right direction. The victories since haven’t all been masterpieces, which explains why head coach Sheldon Keefe has continued to tinker regular with both lines and lineup, but you can’t ignore the fact that the Leafs generate more expected goals than any other NHL team by a wide margin and have put in some tidy defensive efforts in front of red-hot goaltender Jack Campbell. They’re also among the NHL’s best on the penalty kill and power play.
“When you get winning games, I feel like it’s easier to replicate those nights, to remember how it feels,” veteran Jason Spezza said. “You can be a little more patient within games. We’ve played with leads and we’ve had good special teams and those are keys if you look around the league. You win the special teams, especially if you can get out to leads, it makes it harder for the other team.
“They have to push and then you get chances off of that.”
What had the Leafs so perplexed internally during the rough start was the fact the coaches liked the attitude throughout training camp and the team performed well in pre-season play.
More than one player mentioned being “pissed off” following the blown 3-1 series lead to Montreal in the playoffs and the group’s initial response seemed to reflect that. Then the regular season started and they veered quickly into the ditch.
It’s essential they righted the course so quickly because history shows how impossible the climb tends to be for teams outside the playoff window even by the second half of November.
We’ve reached the stage of the season where general managers tend to start believing what they’re seeing from their teams and Kyle Dubas has to feel pretty good.
The Leafs are on pace to top 100 points and there are no warning lights flashing on the dashboard. Fans may still understandably need to be convinced that this team is ready to take a playoff step, but the early indicators all point to it being a top-level performer.
Best of all, no jobs needed to be lost to spark that reaction.
“Once you get winning, confidence starts growing with everyone in the group and you go into games feeling like you’re going to win every night,” Kerfoot said. “And it’s a good feeling to have.
“We know that we’re not going to win every game, but if we stick to the right process we’re going to be in most games.”
It wasn’t so long ago that seemed like anything but a sure thing. CHRIS JOHNSTON IS A TORONTOBASED JOURNALIST WITH A NEW
GAMING COMPANY. HIS WORK WILL BE SEEN ON THE WEBSITE AND APP FOR THE NEW GAMING COMPANY, AND ALSO IN THE TORONTO STAR. FOLLOW HIM ON TWITTER: @REPORTERCHRIS