Toronto Maple Leafs

On The Upswing?

So the Leafs have picked up 8 points in their last 7 games.  Jonas Gustavsson is entrenching himself firmly in the realm of NHL starting goaltenders statistically.  The Leafs defensive game is shoring up a bit, and the offense is a work in progress.

Gustavsson picked up the victory against Carolina on Friday night, and has now led the team to 7 points in his last 5 starts, allowing 14 goals against, on 160 shots, for a 2.76 GAA, and .913 SV%.  Gustavsson’s save percentage on the season of .908 now ranks him 22nd in the NHL amongst goaltenders, ahead of Miikka Kiprusoff, Nikolai Khabibulin, Pekka Rinne, Roberto Luongo, Pascal Leclaire, Cam Ward, Semyon Varlamov, Dan Ellis, Carey Price, Cristobal Huet, Jaroslav Halak, Steve Mason, and Mike Smith.  That’s a pretty lengthy list of NHL starting goalies.  Frankly if he continues his play of late, the Leafs concerns in goal are a thing of the past in regards to a starting netminder.

Defensively, the Leafs adjusted by bringing in Jeff Finger against the Hurricanes, and while they gave up 2 goals against early, the change did have a palpable impact on the game.  Ian White was shifted to play alongside Luke Schenn in a move that may aid in Schenn’s comfort level, while Francois Beauchemin ended up playing alongside Finger, who has more of a defensive bent than Ian White.  Beauchemin still made a few misplays later on in the game, taking a bad penalty to put the Leafs a man down in the final minute of a 3-2 game.  Luckily Gustavsson made a few key saves.

In terms of minutes played, the Leafs only had two power plays last night, so Luke Schenn’s minutes climbed back up to 16:00 minutes.  Jeff Finger skated for 15:52, so the pressure on the top 4 for the Leafs D was a tad more limited against the Canes.  Beauchemin led the team in ice time playing 23:20, which is a pretty major drop after the game against Tampa saw Kaberle lead the team with 27:56 in ice time.  That’s a roughly 4 and a half minute reduction for the ice time leader, which made a difference for sure as the game wore on, and will likely benefit the team in terms of recovery for the 2nd half of a back to back tonight against the Red Wings.

Finger played reasonably well against the ‘Canes, finishing with a +1 rating, and registering an ever important 5 blocked shots, tied for the highest number on the team alonside Francois Beauchemin.  Together the two of them blocked 10 shots, in a game where Carolina actually hit the net 36 times, and directed 69 pucks towards the net.

In contrast, the Leafs only had 26 shots find their target, while directing 47 shots in the direction of Cam Ward and the mesh behind him.  Carolina obviously carried a fairly major edge in possession and time in the offensive zone, but they were 0 for 3 on the power play, as the Leafs continued their solid stretch of penalty killing, with a stretch of 3 games without allowing a power play goal against.  That’s raised the PK percentage above the 70% mark, allowing 17 goals total in 58 short handed situations.

Over the team’s stretch of gaining points over their past 6 games the Leafs penalty kill is operating at an 82.61% kill rate.  Over the entire season that would put them at 11th in the NHL, right behind the New Jersey Devils, and ahead of the likes of Buffalo, Vancouver, Boston, Columbus, and Nashville.

The team is finally playing how it was expected to entering this season.  Solid goaltending and defense, with a smattering of offensive issues.  If Jason Blake and Phil Kessel can start scoring, and the Leafs special teams can keep clicking together, they might be able to go on a solid run in the near future.

Here’s hoping it continues.