Toronto’s D-men gave the Leafs faithful something to cheer about in November, but could they replicate that success in the last month of 2024?
The Leafs rallied back in the second-to-last month of the year with an 8-3-1 record after a less-than-impressive start in October. Despite losing captain Auston Matthews for nine of the 12 games in the month, the Buds registered a 7-2-0 record in that span. Unsurprisingly, the Leafs’ offense scored 34 goals, which ranked a rather lowly 22nd in the league. It is fair to say they were, more or less, carried by their defense.
In the month of November, this defense allowed 27 goals in all situations – the least amongst all teams, although it should be pointed out that Toronto had a relatively lighter schedule with just 12 games.
On the offensive side of the ledger, the Leafs scored 15 goals at 5-on-5 and 17 goals at even-strength, both of which were the lowest in the league.
And when No. 34 was back on the ice? They went 1-1-1.
Matthew’s absence only further legitimized the outstanding performance that the Leafs’ blueline and overall team defense delivered last month.
The Leafs had the third-most blocked shots per 60 of any team in November. Chris Tanev’s name gets echoed around by play-by-play announcers as, even now, he has the most blocks league-wide.
Toronto’s defensive effort has not gone unnoticed around the NHL. After playing against the Leafs on Nov. 20, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Noah Hanifin had some good things to say. “They play a pretty hard game,” Hanifin said. “Especially boxing out and making it hard to get to the net.”
However, the November luck didn’t carry much into the final month of the year. They are 7-5-0 in December and not nearly the same team.
They had a few good flashes of brilliance, like going 4-for-4 in the penalty-kill against the New Jersey Devils, the then-best power play team in the league on Dec. 10. The slow unravelling can be seen as far back as then, the Leafs were 11th in even-strength goals allowed, but now with three games remaining in the year, they are the fifth-worst.
Toronto’s top-notch goalies in Joseph Woll or Anthony Stolarz may not be blameworthy as the Buds rank 19th in blocks per 60, as compared to third in November (as mentioned above).
It also does not help that the Leafs rank 20th in giveaways per 60 in December after going second in that stat in the penultimate month of the year.
Some may say that the contributions from the blueline in the offensive production makes up for their deficiency, but that’s all subjective.
For the record, the goals for the Leafs per game is 12th for December, which is not a fair trade-off.
If the Leafs need to reach the promised land, well then, the name of the game is consistency.
With the new year around the corner, the Leafs can go back to the basics and end 2024 on a high note with their remaining three games. They have all the talent in the world.
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