Toronto Maple Leafs: 13 games to iron out the details and refocus

With 13 games left in the season, and stuck in a modest four-game losing streak, the Toronto Maple Leafs have some work to do.

Lucky 13…the Toronto Maple Leafs hope anyway as they prepare for the final stretch of the season, and it starts with ending their four-game losing streak.

The first two losses…not a huge deal. A playoff-like atmosphere against the Tampa Bay Lightning that ended in a shootout loss. The second, against a hungry Florida Panthers team who are fighting to grab the last wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. It could have gone the Buds way in overtime, but they were able to grab the extra point.

The last two losses, however, are the most telling because they looked like a different team than we are used to. Certainly different from the team that ripped off eight wins out of 10 before this slide.

Auston Matthews can’t be blamed as the main reason for the skid, as they won the first game without him. And as mentioned above, the following two games could have gone the Leafs’ way.

Against the Washington Capitals and the Buffalo Sabres simply put, they didn’t come out to play.

Onward and Upward.

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There is no time to wallow in self-pity, they need to get back on the grind. Coach Mike Babcock, being who he is, will not let his team get too far off course. We can only assume the first practice was either a slap on the wrist” or “wake up call” sort of tempo.

Each subsequent one will move more and more into the mindset that Babcock wants his team to be in for the final stretch and going into the playoffs.

With the points cushion the Leafs currently own, they do have enough wiggle room to treat the last 13 regular seasons games as another pre-playoff “training camp”.

It should be a time to get their game, and possibly more important their mindset, back into the place where it was before the trade deadline.

Obviously, there will be a spark with the hopeful return of Matthews sometime next week, because the schedule is a dangerous mix after Saturday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

When looking a the schedule, there are some games that will be difficult and others not so much. The difficult ones feature; the Penguins, Lightning, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils and Winnipeg Jet, which should inspire a focused effort

The easier perceived games include the Detroit Red Wings once, the Montreal Canadiens twice, and the Buffalo Sabres three times but those can easily sneak up and bite you, as we’ve already seen.

This point is not discounting the other games with teams that are middle of the pack and would love to knock the Leafs down a notch.

Perhaps a quid pro quo with the Sabres on a split for the season series would be in the works. Or the same with the Canadiens! “We win the next game, and you can have the season finale!”

All that being said, there is certainly room for the Leafs to improve. However, we cannot forget where this team has come from, and in a relatively short period of time. I, as a fan, would have never guessed this two years ago at this time.

Next: “Good miss” can be used on Dermott’s game

Let us all relish in the fact we are having the discussion about how to get ready for the playoffs, instead of having a couple of months to prepare for the NHL draft!

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