The Maple Leafs can hum I’ll be home for Christmas, but there’s the not-so-small matter of playing three road games first.
After making life hard on themselves at Scotiabank Arena, two losses with blown leads and their own dramatic comeback to down the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, they took a day off before a busy weekend of travel.
They will be in Washington on Thursday, then play a back-to-back, in Nashville (Saturday) and in Dallas (Sunday). The Capitals and Stars are battling for their respective divisional leads and while the Predators were last in the Central before Wednesday’s games, that’s only five points fewer than Toronto, in its Eastern Conference wild-card log jam.
Toronto has one Scotiabank Arena game before Christmas, against Pittsburgh on Dec. 23.
It remains to be seen if coach Craig Berube sticks with a winning lineup or judges the Leafs harshly on what he saw during much of Tuesday’s game, unable to generate offence.
Defenceman Chris Tanev’s status is still to be decided as he seeks clearance from six weeks of dealing with an upper body injury. Joseph Woll played well throughout the Chicago game, though he and Dennis Hildeby will split the weekend net assignments, no matter who starts in Washington.
Defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, whose goal began the rally on Tuesday, was among the Leafs (with a record of 15-12-5) seeing life as the glass half full. If they keep it simple, even at home when they’re expected to entertain, the veteran figures Toronto will eventually turn a corner.
“There’s high expectations (with fans) and in this room as well,” he said Tuesday. “It was nice to get a win for them.”
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