Toronto Maple Leafs Enter No-Win Scenario Against Buffalo Sabres
Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports
Regardless of what line combinations Randy Carlyle throws onto the ice, the Toronto Maple Leafs enter a no-win scenario when they host the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
After another embarrassing effort in front of their home crowd in a 4-0 blowout by the Boston Bruins, the Maple Leafs hope to bounce back by altering their line combinations.
The line with the best chemistry from the past two seasons featuring Tyler Bozak centering Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk is no more, with David Clarkson replacing Kessel at right wing. Kessel will now play with Nazem Kadri and Joffrey Lupul, who he developed a decent chemistry with prior to van Riemsdyk being acquired by the team.
The shakeup of the top-six forwards isn’t surprising as Carlyle is desperately searching for some kind of consistency with the team’s offense. Kessel is known to be a streaky scorer and the Maple Leafs are willing to live with that. But they can’t survive if there’s no secondary scoring, and there’s barely been a hint of any through the first month of the season.
Unfortunately, even if the Maple Leafs score six goals against the Sabres with the new line combinations it won’t prove anything. It’s not even November and Buffalo is already looking forward to the draft lottery which is why beating a team as bad as the Sabres won’t come close to making up for Toronto’s pathetic efforts on home ice.
A loss to Buffalo would also likely result in the apocalypse occurring in Toronto considering how awful the team has been on home ice. It’s not that the Maple Leafs have just lost at home, it’s that they’ve looked as if they were barely competing in those games as well. If Toronto loses at home to Buffalo of all teams, it could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
The Maple Leafs are licking their wounds with Buffalo in town, and regardless of the outcome tonight, it’ll require a lot more than a win against one of the league’s worst teams for Leafs Nation to find something encouraging about their team.
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