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NHL Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto Maple Leafs Face Difficult Upcoming Week

By

Phaneuf

Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports

After a tough weekend which saw the Toronto Maple Leafs suffer back-to-back losses, the team will attempt to rebound with three straight home games against a trio of quality opponents.

The Maple Leafs lost a hard fought 2-1 battle against the Pittsburgh Penguins last Friday before failing to show up the next night in Toronto’s worst loss of the season, a 6-2 blowout courtesy of the lowly Buffalo Sabres. The tough weekend could transform into a difficult seven-day period for the Maple Leafs given the Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings come to town this week.

Toronto split their season series against Nashville last season, shutting out the Predators 4-0 at home last October, before Nashville avenged the loss a month later on their home ice in a 4-1 victory. The Predators enter Tuesday’s contest with an 11-4-2 record, and through the first six weeks of the season they have been one of the league’s biggest surprises. The one thing that could be working in the Maple Leafs’ favor is that Jonathan Bernier has an 8-2 all-time record against the Predators.

Toronto also split their season series against Tampa Bay last season, although two of their victories were when Steven Stamkos was still recovering from his leg injury. Stamkos has enjoyed lighting up the Maple Leafs in his career, and the 13-4-3 Lightning will look to set the tone early against their divisional opponent when they come to town Thursday night. Tampa Bay will no doubt be a team Toronto will be chasing down for a playoff spot, and considering this will be the first of four meetings between the clubs, it’ll be important for the Maple Leafs to not allow points to slip away on home ice.

Speaking of allowing points to slip away against divisional opponents, the Red Wings have already defeated the Maple Leafs twice this season, once at home and once at the Air Canada Centre. The last time Detroit visited Toronto was on Oct. 17 where the Maple Leafs were badly outplayed in a 4-1 loss which saw Henrik Zetterberg put on a clinic, recording an assist on every Red Wings goal. Detroit would shut out the Maple Leafs the next night in a 1-0 overtime win at the Joe Louis Arena. Having already surrendered four points to the Red Wings this season, the Maple Leafs cannot afford to cough up another two points on their home ice on Saturday night.

This week provides a big test for the inconsistent Maple Leafs as it wouldn’t be shocking if they lost all three contests given the strength of their opponents. A loss against Nashville wouldn’t have that significant of an impact in the standings, but losses to divisional opponents on home ice cannot happen this early in the season. If it does, the Maple Leafs may be digging themselves into a hole they won’t be able to climb out of considering these are the teams they need to surpass in order to earn a playoff berth.

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