Toronto Maple Leafs Have Hit a Rough Patch

Toronto got off to a promising start after missing the playoffs last season. They won seven of their first 13 games, but since then the Maple Leafs have hit a rough patch, losing five of their last six and dropping three straight.

First on the Season 

The Maple Leafs’ three-game losing streak was capped with a 4-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils in their last game, their first shutout loss of the season. In the loss, Toronto took only 23 shots, had no power-play opportunities, and Anthony Stolarz allowed three goals on 28 shots, with the last New Jersey goal coming on an empty net.

The Issue Has Been on Defence 

While the Leafs rank a respectable 11th in goals per game, the issue has been on the defensive side of the ice, where they rank 20th in GAA. In their five losses in the last six games, the club allowed 21 goals. That averages 4.20 goals per game, and over the season, they give up 3.32 goals per game.

Top netminder Sergei Bobrovsky is off to a slow first season in Toronto, 3-7-2, with a GAA of 3.34 and a save percentage of .886. The Maple Leafs have lost his last four starts, allowing 15 goals. The low point in the recent stretch came in a 5-4 road loss to the Seattle Kraken, where he gave up five goals on only 17 shots.

Overall, the attack has been pretty solid this season, though not so much in the shutout loss. Still, Auston Matthews and William Nylander are tied for sixth in goals, and Matthews is sixth in points.

Things Do Not Get Easier 

The recent loss to the Devils was the first game of a four-game homestand for the Maple Leafs, and things do not get any easier. In their next three games, they face the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild, and Edmonton Oilers.

The Avs are tied for the fourth-most points in the Western Conference, the Wild lead the West and the NHL in GAA, and the Oilers are second in the West and the league's highest-scoring team.