The Leafs begin a very tough stretch of games at home tonight again the Minnesota Wild. The Wild are tied for 5th in the NHL standings but have been off their game a little as of late. With a 2-3-2 record over their past 7 games, they’ll be hungry for a win in an attempt to build on their defeat of the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.
The Leafs are going to have to keep pushing forward with what has been a successful January thus far. With points in all but 1 of their 9 games this month, things have turned around in terms of their play on the ice. What they need now is to keep their foot on the pedal, but it would also be great if the teams around them could give up a few points in the standings as well. The Atlantic Division, in particular, has been outstanding for over a month now. While the Leafs have managed a major turnaround since Marc Savard was fired from the coaching staff, it simply hasn’t been enough to lock them into a playoff position just yet.
There are 9 games to go before the Olympic break and it’s imperative that they finish strong or else there will be a lot of noise surrounding the team in the 3 weeks that they’re off.
After Minnesota they’ll welcome the Detroit Red Wings to town on Wednesday in what will be a 4pt game.
After that we’ll be subjected to a ton of garbage surrounding Mitch Marner’s first game in Toronto as a member of the Golden Knights. His departure was anything but amicable, so we’ll be sure to hear a ton of boo’s every time he touches the puck. I can’t wait.
From there we’ll be treated to a very rare Sunday afternoon game, as the league leading Colorado Avalanche seek redemption for the loss that the Leafs handed to them last Tuesday. If I were a betting man (I am, actually), I wouldn’t put a lot of money on Nathan MacKinnon and Co. allowing two games to slip to the same team in a two week period.
To finish things off they’ll head into another 4pt game against the Buffalo Sabres. If that game was being played today it would be as close to a must-win contest as they have had this season. When you consider the fact that the teams in their division aren’t giving up points elsewhere, it’s all that more important to win the games they play against them. To take it further, it would be fantastic if they got those wins in regulation time.
Once they finish their 5 game home stand they’ll head back to the west coast for an additional 4 games before most of the players get some rest. That rest could do a world of good for veterans such as John Tavares and Anthony Stolarz as they look to rest up and heal up for the stretch drive. With any luck they can help propel the team into the playoffs once again.