What had started out as a pretty good month of January for the Toronto Maple Leafs has ended on a losing note, after being beaten by the Tampa Bay Lightning for the third time this season.
James Reimer has been the reason for much of the success by the Leafs this month. After being called up for the first time in late December, he has gone 6-4 with a 2.24 goals against average and a .933 save percentage.
While Reimer played well again last night (though he was clearly having some issues with rebound control), his teammates simply didn't get much going during the first period and fell behind 2-0 by the end of the opening 20 minutes.
The Maple Leafs offense was so lethargic in the first period that they had been out-shot 17-4 by the 18-minute mark.
The Maple Leafs can score; we've all seen it. Mikhail Grabovski became the Leafs surprise first 20-goal scorer this season last week, and there is a relatively safe bet there will be at least four more. The trouble is, after the top five, there is a serious drop off.
In fact, the rest of the team combined may not score as many as the top five.
While this kind of ratio isn't specifically just a problem with the Toronto Maple Leafs, other teams find a way to make up for it, whether it be a star goalie or a super star forward.
So the question is, why don't the Leafs score more goals with more consistency?
The answer for this team isn't a balanced attack, there is too much that can go wrong. One injury or a couple of bad games can be catastrophic when you rely on a blanket offense.
What the Leafs need is a "ringer." They need a star.
This was the Toronto Maple Leafs fourth set of back-to-back games in this somewhat shortened month, so they can be forgiven some for their lack of energy, however. It has become more and more apparent that the temper tantrums displayed by Jonas Gustavsson this season may in fact be warranted.
It was refreshing to see a little emotion out of Phil Kessel last night as well, and captain Dion Phaneuf seems to be re-inventing himself a little as of late. While it would be more advantageous to the team if he scored more, it is great to see him leveling some of the teeth-rattling, board-buckling body checks that had been synonymous with the name Dion.
Everyone knows that Phil Kessel is a streaky scorer. Having been held off of the score sheet last night gave him his third seven-game goal-less streak of the season, which makes the total number of games that he hasn't put a puck in the net this season 33.
On the up side, that means that he has scored 19 goals in 16 games!
In all likelihood, James Reimer is on his way back to the Marlies this morning because of the NHL All-Star Break, though it is probably a safe bet that Brian Burke will be working to make a more permanent spot for him during that time.
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