Maple Leafs Measuring Up Against Eastern Conference’s Best – The Hockey Writers Toronto Maple Leafs Latest News, Analysis & More

It might be early on in the 2024-25 NHL season, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are already experiencing games that should be considered measuring sticks for a team looking to jump past the first round of the playoffs this coming spring.

After opening the season with a 1-0 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, the Maple Leafs have gone on to beat the New Jersey Devils, the Los Angeles Kings, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins. Their only other loss came against the New York Rangers in Toronto with the Rangers beating them 4-1.

While the score of their most recent game might seem like the Maple Leafs had multiple breakdowns, the 4-1 final was actually inflated by two empty net goals late in the third period. Either way, the games against the Rangers and Lightning should be taken as measuring sticks for the Maple Leafs — especially with the success both teams have had in recent seasons.

So, with two major measuring stick games under their belt this season, how do the Maple Leafs stack up against some of the top competition in the East.

Maple Leafs Kept It Tight With Rangers

The Rangers might’ve been the biggest test early on this season for the Maple Leafs. A team that has so much depth up front and strength on their blue line, they also have one of the top-five goalies in the league — who could end up being the highest paid Ranger at some point.

As for the team, the Rangers have been to the Conference Final twice in the past three seasons — losing once to the Lightning in 2021-22 and again to the Florida Panthers in 2023-24, both would go on to win the Stanley Cup.

While the scoreboard showed a 4-1 loss for the Maple Leafs, the final two goals were both empty netters within the final minute of the game. Up to that point however, it was a 2-1 game with the Maple Leafs catching some momentum late in the game.

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As for the numbers, the Maple Leafs outshot the Rangers 35-29, they out-chanced them and they out-hit them.

The Maple Leafs finished with a 5v5 Corsi For of 59.43 percent while the Rangers’ Corsi For Percentage was just 40.57 percent. The Maple Leafs had 18 high-danger opportunities and, unfortunately, they ran into a top-five goalie who had a strong performance.

Take away those two empty-netters and you have a one-goal game against one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

Maple Leafs Brought the Thunder Against Lightning

The Maple Leafs did bounce back from their loss to the Rangers on Monday with a 5-2 thrashing of the Lighting — another team that has been atop the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division for the past number of seasons.

Once again, the Maple Leafs stood tall and the big guys came to play — with Auston Matthews and William Nylander accounting for three of the team’s five goals. Anthony Stolarz also stood tall for his third win of the season — another strong performance for the Maple Leafs’ offseason acquisition.

While the Maple Leafs were outshot in this one 34-29 they controlled the pace of play from the second period on, scoring four straight in the second frame. The Maple Leafs held the Lightning to just one powerplay goal on six opportunities while scoring once on their four opportunities with the man advantage.

At 5v5, the Maple Leafs had a CF% of 54.84 percent, while the Lightning came in at 45.16 percent and through 60 minutes, the Maple Leafs had 15 high-danger opportunities next to the 14 that the Lightning had.

While this game may have been a little bit closer than the Rangers game in terms of the numbers, the Maple Leafs did chase Andrei Vasilevskiy from the Lightning net — a feat that has been tough to do over the past five seasons during the Lightning’s run.

It’s still early and the competition is only going to get tougher — especially in the coming weeks — but for now, the Maple Leafs and their newly built roster have stacked up well against some of the best in the East.