The Toronto Maple Leafs’ Identity Crisis

Just when you thought that the Toronto Maple Leafs were coming into their own, this happens.

The “this” I speak of is, of course, the brutal, embarrassing loss to the offensively-anaemic Minnesota Wild. The Leafs were handled by a score of 5-2–not a game to write home about if you are Jonas Gustavsson.

The ACC: Not always a place for celebration (Photo Courtesy of RoninKengo/Flickr)

After an over-achieving week in which Phil Kessel scored his first goal and the team upset the defending Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings by a whopping score of 5-1, the Blue and White crashed back down to reality.

They did not carry their momentous win over the weekend into last night’s game, and they did not take advantage of facing a lower-calibre team.

The new-look Maple Leafs are new-look no longer. The fumes they were running on with a Kessel-infused offense seemed to run out until Philip scored a meaningless goal late in the game.

Mike Komisarek risked injuring himself for a prolonged period of time by playing last night.  He did not last very long and is now questionable for Friday’s game. Not that Komisarek’s presence really matters—he is yet to register a point and is a minus-seven on the season.

So what’s next for the Leafs? After travelling to Chicago to meet the Blackhawks on Friday, they have a date with the Flames at the ACC the following night. On paper, those two games look like two losses. But then again, how many people actually thought that they could beat the Wings?

I suppose it has been a tale of two teams, a Jekyll and Hyde story, if you will. On the one hand, the Leafs look absolutely impotent, it’s as if they have no fight in them whatsoever.

On other nights, they look like the scrappy, rough-and-tumble team that Brian Burke envisioned. They seem to be road warriors. Tomas Kaberle is a point-scoring machine of a defenseman and Phil Kessel, at times, can be an opposing goaltender’s nightmare.

These two guys cannot, however, win every game on their own. Without consistent secondary scoring, the team is just a lack-lustre bunch with two shining stars and an up-and-coming rookie goalie. Not enough to win, not in this league, at least.

With a win last night, the Leafs could have moved to within three points of the Montreal Canadiens, yet another team that has struggled with consistency early in this 2009-2010 season. With the loss, they remain five points back.

Brian Burke wants his team to succeed

The smart money says that they will have an awfully difficult time gaining ground in the next two games they play.

But who knows? That’s why they play the games, right?

Posted by Jason Hitelman on Nov 11 2009. Filed under Eastern Conference, Northeast, Toronto Maple Leafs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.