LAS VEGAS — Sheldon Keefe didn’t need long to consider how to answer the question.
Is the six-game winning streak the Toronto Maple Leafs are enjoying the best he’s seen his team play all season?
“Yeah, I think that’s fair,” the Leafs coach said, nodding with a look of relaxation that’s been hard to come by for most of the season. “Especially with the consistency, right? We’ve been talking about consistency being the difference. We’ve played good hockey over the course of the season, but we haven’t put together a stretch like this. So that’s what’s been tremendous.”
That the Leafs had rattled off five wins in a row coming into Thursday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights was impressive, but it still felt like their toughest tests were yet to come. None of those wins came against teams comfortably in a playoff spot.
But the Golden Knights are the defending Stanley Cup champions. Even without the likes of Jack Eichel and Mark Stone to injury, they still feature the goaltender with the best save percentage (.929) in the NHL coming into the game in Adin Hill.
Hill didn’t last 15 minutes against the Leafs as he was pulled after allowing three goals on 21 shots. That would have been impressive enough from a Leafs team on the second night of a back-to-back. But what stood out was where those goals came from: players not named Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner, the Leafs’ three leading goal scorers.
For just the second time this season, the Leafs got five goals in a game from players outside their top three goal scorers. The other game was their 7-0 beatdown of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 16.
Yes, Matthews is in the middle of a historic season that has all but cemented his spot as the greatest Leaf of all time. But it’s still been tough to ignore the question, even if it comes quietly from somewhere in the back of the arena: What happens to this team if Matthews doesn’t score? Against the Golden Knights (still the defending Stanley Cup champs, in case you’d forgotten) the Leafs’ depth scoring emerged in a way that could ease some concerns around the team for now.
10 in his last 5…
Auston Matthews. pic.twitter.com/YDqtd8VdV8
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) February 23, 2024
Up and down the lineup there are reasons for genuine optimism about the Leafs, many of which were on display in a 7-3 win Thursday that made for their longest winning streak since February 2022. And there might just be enough optimism caused by the Leafs’ improved play as of late that their roster-building plans could change over the coming weeks.
Let’s start with Max Domi. After his first two-goal game as a Leaf, what could change if the centre truly starts finding his groove and produces more consistently?
What’s worth appreciating about Domi’s recent uptick is how well he weathered the storm during a recent cold spell. Though Domi potted just two goals over the last two months, he never looked or sounded more reticent on and off the ice. He’s now playing with more and more of the snarl that management hoped he’d bring when he signed a one-year deal as a free agent in Toronto. And he’s doing so in what feels more and more like the Leafs’ second line.
“Using his speed and tenacity to close and kill plays defensively, I think, has been tremendous,” Keefe said. “And that’s what’s going to allow him to continue to play in a role in a situation like that. When he’s skating and competing at that level, he could play against anybody in the league.”
Only once in his previous eight NHL seasons did his shooting percentage dip as low as the 6.2 percent it sat at coming into Thursday’s game. Getting more of what he showed against the Golden Knights could lead to more ice time, more responsibilities (Domi was rewarded with a spin on the top power-play unit after his two goals) and, the coaching staff would hope, more consistency.
The improvements in the middle-six forwards as evidenced in Sin City didn’t end with Domi. Bobby McMann’s energy and confidence with the puck has allowed him to get to the inside of the ice in a far more noticeable manner as of late. Long seen as a development project, McMann is fulfilling his potential and playing the best hockey of his professional career.
With an assist Thursday, the former ECHL forward now has 10 points in his last six games. McMann’s lineup spot wasn’t assured a few weeks ago. But he has since ascended to the point that it’s worth asking: Instead of having to acquire multiple forwards ahead of the March 8 trade deadline, could McMann be an internal solution to fill the top-nine hole the Leafs have?
“I think I can be a consistent contributor,” McMann said. “And I’ve always kind of thought that. But you have to earn your way too. You can’t just assume that that’s going to happen. And I think I’ve been earning it more and more. And I’m just going to trust that it’s going to keep happening.”
Fourth-liner Pontus Holmberg looked close to nabbing his own first multi-goal game in his NHL career before Matthews tipped his third-period shot in. With a goal and an assist, Holmberg would have to settle for his second multi-point game in the last month and a half. Driven by Holmberg’s edgy and at times dynamic game, the Leafs’ fourth line showed as much spark as they have all season. David Kampf also bagged a goal of his own. Add it up and the Leafs’ fourth line tallied four points and eight shots on goal.
Strange things happen in Las Vegas every night, sure. But how could you not shake your head watching the contributions from lower down the lineup and wonder if this is the same Leafs team whose lack of secondary scoring looked like it might derail their season?
This might qualify as a Hoover Dam-sized “if,” but if Keefe can continue to squeeze a little more offensive juice out of his fourth line, the overreliance on his stars should wane. They’ll be needed in the playoffs after all.
The improvements don’t end with the Leafs forwards, though. After a clear lack of production from defencemen not named Rielly throughout the first half of the season, Jake McCabe has two goals in his last four games.
Keefe had no reason to mess with the pairs that have clicked so well in Morgan Rielly’s absence while serving a five-game suspension. Rielly was paired with William Lagesson against the Golden Knights.
McCabe and Simon Benoit in particular have been using their physicality and transitioning the puck from their own end to the offensive zone far more effectively. And with TJ Brodie playing on his left side with Timothy Liljegren, there haven’t just been far fewer errors from those two over this winning streak. Their own confidence is reflected in how well they’re both cutting through opposition teams with their puck movement as of late.
So much has changed since the beginning of this winning streak, when the Leafs allowed a season-low 15 shots against in a 4-1 win Feb. 13 over the St. Louis Blues.
“That game, we played such a simple, north and heavy game,” McCabe said. “We got on the forecheck and we’ve kind of continued that through this stretch. That’s building an identity and building confidence within that structure. It’s been really important for us. It’s paying dividends for us, obviously.”
And this version of the Leafs lineup isn’t even their most optimal right now. Calle Jarnkrok should eventually return from a January broken knuckle, which will force one of the Leafs’ bottom-six forwards into the press box.
While it’s irrational to draw too many conclusions from one game, when you zoom out, you can ask: Will the fact that this team is playing to its capabilities change how Leafs GM Brad Treliving approaches the trade deadline?
After all, a few weeks ago Treliving and the Leafs management could be forgiven for not wanting to flip serious assets on a team that was playing like a middle-of-the-pack outfit. They didn’t look one piece away, after all.
But could this streak, fuelled by Matthews’ brilliance and their depth players either playing to their potential or exceeding it, change the conversation around the team? The Leafs sit third in the Atlantic Division, and with a.643 winning percentage, they now have some serious wiggle room between them and the wild-card teams. Could Treliving look at the way McMann, Domi and other bottom-six players are starting to produce and figure it’s time to bolster their chances of playoff success with a few additions?
What’s clear for now, at the very least, is the Leafs themselves are thinking differently about themselves.
“Obviously our stars are confident in their game, but confidence can be fleeting in this league,” McCabe said. “But when everyone’s playing with confidence like we are currently, it’s a scary thing.”
(Photo of Pontus Holmberg celebrating his goal Thursday: Stephen R. Sylvanie / USA Today)
