Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 questions for the upcoming games
By Paul Taylor
As the Toronto Maple Leafs approach the halfway point of the regular season, we look at three questions which need answering in the upcoming slate of games.
Let’s be honest, even when things are going well for the Toronto Maple Leafs, they still have to contend with numerous pressures, criticisms and questions. With this in mind, we thought we’d add to this with three questions of our own, in relation to their upcoming games.
1) How quickly will Frederik Andersen bounce back?
Talk about putting a jinx on someone. We recently identified Frederik Andersen as one of the Leafs with a genuine chance of winning an individual award at the end of this season.
More specifically, the Vezina Trophy. Andersen has been fantastic so far, and is at or near the top of the relevant major categories for regular goaltenders.
However, our article was swiftly followed by Andersen’s worst game of the season so far, versus the Boston Bruins on Saturday night. He allowed six goals on 27 shots, before being pulled in the third period.
This shouldn’t be seen as a criticism of the 29-year-old; he’s arguably been the Leafs’ best player so far this season. Regardless, you have to wonder how this will impact him and if he will be able to bounce back right away, in his next start?
In truth, it hasn’t been the best of starts to the month for Andersen in general. Here is a comparison of his major stats by month:
- October: GAA – 2.50 / SV% – .919
- November: GAA – 2.00 / SV% – .942
- December: GAA – 4.00 / SV% – .891
Of course, given Andersen is only three games into the month, it’s too early to start panicking per se. However, his performances will be worth keeping an eye on in the coming games, to see if the Boston game was just a one-off rather than the start of a downward trend in his form.