Don't look now, folks, but the Toronto Maple Leafs have an honest-to-goodness winning streak going.
For only the second time this season, the Leafs managed to win two games in succession and this time they managed to win one at home. On Saturday, the Leafs turned in their third consecutive solid effort, which paid off in a second consecutive victory, this one a 4-2 decision over Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Most astonishing is that the Leafs' best stretch of hockey in this NHL season came while their fans and the media were up in arms. After an embarrassing 5-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes last week, everyone was howling for the head of Leafs general manager John Ferguson on a platter, with a sizable group wanting head coach Paul Maurice's scalp for dessert. Ferguson's boss, Richard Peddie, threw some gas on the fire by suggesting he made a mistake in hiring Ferguson.
Then again, maybe there is something to the players' time-honoured insistence they never pay attention to such things. Vesa Toskala, who tightened his grip on the Leafs' No. 1 goaltender's job with his cool outing against the Penguins, claimed he had no idea the citizenry was preparing to march on the Air Canada Centre with tar and feathers.
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“I have no idea what's going on, no,” Toskala said to a few reporters, who stood slack-jawed in amazement. “Oh, I heard something, but I don't know, no idea what.”
What, wondered one of the media troublemakers, do you go home, turn out the lights, close the drapes and climb into bed?
“There's so many other channels in sports on the TV,” Toskala replied, a sly grin spreading across his face.
Oh yeah, what do you watch?
“I actually like to watch the Sharks games,” the Finnish goalie said, referring to his former team, the San Jose Sharks, who are also disappointing their faithful this season because they are not living up to lofty expectations.
“If I'm watching hockey, I just watch them,” Toskala added. “You don't hear much about us on their channel, so that's good.”
But not good enough for us media types, who could not believe Toskala was unaware of our own little maelstrom. What about the radio, someone demanded. You must have heard something on the radio.
“I have a satellite radio on all the time, so that's good,” Toskala said, smiling widely now.
Someone took a final stab. “I guess you only read Finnish newspapers on the Internet.”
“That is correct,” Toskala said, almost laughing out loud.
Actually, the reason the Leafs skated through all the controversy was their captain, Mats Sundin. At least that's what Maurice thinks.
“You need to spend some time with Mats Sundin,” Maurice said. “You will find all the answers to any questions you have with how this team is responding with him. He is a special fella.
“He believes in how hard he works, always keeps his frustration in check and just channels it into working hard and helping the players around him get better.
“He is the reason. There are good players in the league and great men. Every once in a while you run across a guy who's both and it's been a pleasure to watch him.”
It is difficult to argue with Maurice. I have watched Sundin since he joined the Leafs in 1994 and have long been amazed at his unflappable nature. The only way you can tell he is frustrated with how things are going is when he blows off the media the odd time. He has never had a public tantrum.
There are lots of hockey executives around the league who envy Ferguson and Maurice because Sundin is as low maintenance as it gets.
On a more practical level, the Leafs found a balance between offence and defence in their past two games. Once clueless in their own zone, which gave them a goals-against average of 3.08 in their first 25 games, among the worst in the NHL, the Leafs allowed only two goals in each of their past two games.
The proof is in their ability to hold together in the third period, another danger zone for the Leafs. The Penguins cut the Leafs' lead to 3-2 in the third period on Saturday, and the Atlanta Thrashers made a similar move last Thursday but the Leafs clamped down both times.
“I didn't feel from the bench any of the tightness that we found [earlier],” Maurice said. “They are a lot clearer on what's supposed to happen and on the bench they're calling it out.”
