With their backs against the wall and without Auston Matthews, the Toronto Maple Leafs played their best game of the series in Game 5 and earned a series-extending 2-1 win. Mitch Marner played ...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/05/01/game-5-analysis-maple-leafs-bruins/
The Toronto Maple Leafs lived to fight another day. Amidst all the turmoil and vitriol hurled their way, the Leafs went into Boston, dug in, played a hell of a game, and got a deserved win. Jos...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/05/01/game-in-10-toronto-maple-leafs-boston-bruins-game-5/
Throughout the season and playoffs, we generally write post-games in a “Game in 10” format, breaking down the game into 10 digestible points that highlight goals, matchups, systems, and more....
After three playoff games, the Maple Leafs are down 2-1 in the series and face some lineup uncertainty around one of their best players, William Nylander. It’s not the ideal spot to be, but tha...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/26/maple-leafs-playoff-notebook-offense/
It’s pretty hard to win in the playoffs when you have the worse goalie and are massively outplayed on special teams. For the second time in three games, that was the case for the Toronto Mapl...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/25/game-3-analysis-maple-leafs-bruins/
The Maple Leafs stealing home-ice advantage was short-lived. Despite finally scoring first against Boston, the Leafs’ special-teams struggles are starting to prove too difficult to overcome. To...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/25/game-in-10-maple-leafs-bruins-game-3/
In need of a big win to even the series, the Toronto Maple Leafs leaned on the brilliance of their best player and got a hard-earned victory. Matthews’ goal and two assists were the main stor...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/23/game-2-maple-leafs-bruins-analysis/
The Maple Leafs earned their split, and we have ourselves a series. Auston Matthews and his line were fantastic. The Leafs got a penalty kill and a power-play goal when they needed it. Ilya Sam...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/23/game-in-10-maple-leafs-bruins-game-2/
For the second straight year, the Toronto Maple Leafs opened the first round of the playoffs with a near-worst-case scenario. The Leafs allowed the first goal on the first shot against and cont...
Heading into this game, the Maple Leafs were 2-6 in Game 1s under this core. Make it 2-7. There were a lot of familiar themes in this one, from poor special teams, to glaring defensive issues, to...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/21/game-in-10-maple-leafs-bruins-game-1/
Well, here we go again—another year of Leafs playoff hockey and another first-round matchup against the Boston Bruins. At this point, you have likely heard or read the basic tale of the tape fo...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/19/maple-leafs-vs-bruins-series-preview/
A wild night in the Eastern Conference playoff race resulted in the Maple Leafs drawing the Boston Bruins in the first round. We all know about the psychology of the Leafs vs. Bruins playoff hist...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/17/game-in-10-maple-leafs-panthers-game-81/
Nothing is better than longer spring days with Maple Leafs playoff hockey in the air. In this week’s notebook, as we enter the final few days of the regular season, we’ll reflect on the team�...
The final week of the regular season is finally here, and the Maple Leafs have locked themselves into third in the Atlantic Division. We know they will be starting on the road, and unless the Bru...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/15/sheldon-keefe-three-lines-playoffs/
I want to take you back to the draft floor of the 2023 NHL Draft in Nashville, where I was standing with my wonderful contemporaries in the scouting and media world when the Maple Leafs approache...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/14/maple-leafs-easton-cowans-nhl-projection/
Auston Matthews scored #69, but Maple the Leafs fell 5-4 in overtime to the Red Wings in a game that saw plenty of goals and a few injury scares. The Leafs opened the scoring but then allowed f...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/14/game-in-10-maple-leafs-red-wings-game-80/
A lot was going on in this game. Auston Matthews scored goals #67 and #68. The special teams were all-around awful. Ilya Samsonov allowed six goals on 20 shots to an undermanned Devils lineup. If...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/12/game-in-10-maple-leafs-devils-game-79/
The Maple Leafs took on a desperate Penguins team, and while they didn’t quite take care of business before overtime, they took a piece out of Pittsburgh’s playoff push with an extra-time win...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/09/game-in-10-maple-leafs-penguins-game-77/
The Maple Leafs have officially clinched a playoff spot and are getting healthy at the right time. Another busy week lies ahead with four games in six nights, so let’s get right into it with th...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/08/toronto-maple-leafs-defense-playoff-lineup/
Mitch Marner is officially out of the Leafs gray practice jersey (reserved for players out of the lineup), indicating an imminent return from injury. In the 12 games Marner has missed with a high...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/05/auston-matthews-mitch-marner-toronto-maple-leafs-playoffs/
Led by Andrei Vasilevskiy, the Lightning’s star players outdueled the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. The Leafs will not play Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs this year, but with th...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/04/game-in-10-maple-leafs-lightning-game-75/
Despite taking a 5-1 lead into the third period, Maple Leafs fans needed to hold their breath until the final buzzer as Toronto narrowly avoided a blown lead to the Panthers in a 6-4 victory. The...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/02/game-in-10-maple-leafs-panthers-game-74/
A big week for the Maple Leafs starts with a much-anticipated matchup against the Florida Panthers. Earlier today, I examined the issues plaguing the Leafs’ 30th-ranked power play in the month ...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/04/01/toronto-maple-leafs-notebook-pk-holmberg-samsonov-marner/
In February, the Maple Leafs posted the best power-play percentage in the NHL, tying a league record with a 50% success rate. In March, the man advantage took a complete 180, finishing 30th in th...
100 days after they lost 9-3 to the Sabres at the KeyBank Center, the Maple Leafs walked into Buffalo, Ilya Samsonov pitched a shutout, Auston Matthews scored #60, and they won 3-0 in a game that...
https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2024/03/31/game-in-10-maple-leafs-sabres-game-73/