Toronto Maple Leafs: Leafs Win Third Straight, Add To Winning Streak

The Toronto Maple Leafs are coming off of a 3-game winning streak with its most recent win a 3-2 matchup against the LA Kings.

First of all, let us review how they have played their past three games:

Game 1: St. Louis Blues at Toronto Maple Leafs

Starting Goalie: Jonas Gustavsson

POSITIVES: Toronto played a stellar offensive AND defensive game in the first two periods, taking a convincing 5-2 lead. Gustavsson was given the start due to Reimer coming off his first NHL loss against the Bruins, but that is another game to be talked about. The Leafs started their routing with a goal just 15 seconds into the game off a shot from Kris Versteeg! They gave up two goals in the rest of the period, but had a great defensive game otherwise.

The second period showed the Maple Leafs true offensive capabilities when they scored four unanswered goals to take their 5-2 lead. Gustavsson played an amazing period and Kessel added to his scoring numbers with two goals.

The shootout looked down memory lane with two former Leafs in Alex Steen and Brad Boyes coming in to take the shots, Grabovski's stellar hands seemed to pump adrenaline in the next shooters because he scored what could be the shootout goal of the year. This led to two straight Gustavsson saves and a game winner by Tyler Bozak.

NEGATIVES: The Leafs played a HORRIBLE third period to say the least. They played as if they had already won, leading to three unanswered goals by the Blues to take the game to overtime. The defense was sloppy and the offense seemed to be taking meaningless shots that were wide of the net.

Gustavsson seemed very clumsy in the third period as he allowed three goals in the final frame and it seemed as if the Blues would win in regulation had the leafs not gotten lucky.

Final Score: 6-5 (SO)

Game 2: Toronto Maple Leafs at Atlanta Thrashers

POSITIVES: Was there anything not positive in that game? The offense played an AMAZING game as did the defenseman. Both Tomas Kaberle and Mikhail Grabovski had 4 point nights as the leafs absolutely trounced the Thrashers.

The second period is where everything started going great. Colby Armstrong was the victim of a sucker punch by Ben Eager who was suspended for four games afterwards. The Leafs took this penalty to their advantage scoring six unanswered goals just in the second period! Reimer played amazing to keep the Thrashers at a low score and everything was positive in this period

Kessel started off the third period by sniping his 17th goal of the season. Unfortunately, that was the last goal we would see, but it did not matter as the worst offensive team in the league scored a season high nine goals in the process.

NEGATIVES: The only negative here is Reimer's last five minutes of the third period. He played a stellar game without a doubt and it was unfortunate to see him give up those two goals at the end.

Final Score: 9-3

Game 3: Toronto Maple Leafs @ Los Angeles Kings

I was at this game personally being the only time the Leafs would come to town, so why would I miss this one.

POSITIVES: The Leafs played an ok offensive game and an above average offensive game. They played a stellar game in the second period, keeping the puck in the Kings zone for most of the time and connecting with two goals to take the lead.

Kaberle made some great cross-ice passes, but unfortunately there were some uncalled hooks and slashes that kept the Leafs from scoring on two or three breakaways.

The third period was a great game defensively. Nikolai Kulemin and his line of Mikhail Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur made beautiful passes to get to the net and generate a scoring chance which went into the back of the net.

The Leafs might have been down 6-4 in terms of players during the last two minutes of the game, but the Leafs put great pressure on the Kings which led them to constantly have to pass the puck to one another and not able to shoot the puck towards the net.

Shot blocking was a success for the Leafs as players sacrificed their bodies to keep the puck away from the net. Reimer was stellar as always and keeps his 2.00 GAA intact by only allowing two goals the entire game and none in the third frame.

NEGATIVES: The first period was just atrocious for the Leafs, they could not keep the puck in the opposing zone and only had five shots on goal! They seemed to make unnecessary passes and gave the Kings scoring chances.The third period also held the Kings in the Leafs zone for a long time as players seemed to not use the boards and try to take the puck out of the zone themselves, which caused turnovers and scoring chances for the Kings.

At the end of the game, I turned around to the angry Kings nation and waved the logo of the Blue and White to the fans and had my fair share of popcorn thrown at me. Netherless, the Leafs won and kept their winning streak intact.

Final Score: 3-2

Overall, the Leafs are an amazing 4-1-0 in 2011, and hopefully will continue their stellar play consistently on a night to night basis. Next up is San Jose.

Questions For The Future:

J.S. Giguere is bound to come back soon so the problem facing the Leafs is which goalie will be sent down to the minors? Gustavsson has been inconsistent and should need some extra time in the AHL to get him some more playing time and some more conditioning for the NHL. Reimer culd also be sent down though just because he is a rookie although he is 3-1-0 with a 2.00 GAA and a .923 SoV percentage. Giguere will stay with the club without a doubt and it is uncertain what will happen.