Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs are known to panic easily.
So as a late holiday gift, let's give Leaf Nation something positive to chew on as it prepares for Wednesday's road game against the New York Islanders (7:30 p.m. ET).
Vesa Toskala has started the last 12 games for the Toronto Maple Leafs, compiling a goals-against average of less than 2.00.
(Julie Jacobson/ Associated Press)
Just a month ago, supporters, media and some ownership insiders were hoping pink slips would be presented to GM John Ferguson and coach Paul Maurice after a horrible 5-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes on a nationally televised Saturday night game.
That dropped the blue and white to 8-11-2-3, or put another way, left them with only eight regulation wins in 24 games.
Since then, the Leafs have been 7-3-2 and at 15-14-4-3 are in the thick of a playoff race that still reasonably involves everyone in the Eastern Conference save perhaps the Washington Capitals.
Sounds good.
But Leafs fans are a glass-half-empty group (and who can blame them, given it's been 40 years since a Stanley Cup championship), and there has been a lot of hand-wringing about the offence lately. The stats say it's misplaced.
Up to the Phoenix game, Toronto was giving up an awful 3.58 goals per game while scoring at a 2.88 clip. After, the club has cut the goals against all the way to 2.00 and the goals for has gone up to 3.08.
Now, that's not the 3.6 goals a game the Leafs scored in the month of October, but while everyone was up-ice looking to pad their stats back in those days, the defence was giving up four goals a contest.
Remember, Toronto was the first club in the NHL to hit the 100-goals against mark this season. There are now four teams with worse marks.
Toskala remarkable
Keying the recent Toronto renaissance has been goaltender Vesa Toskala who has started every game since Phoenix, posted a goals against below 2.00 and perhaps convinced fans that John Ferguson wasn't an idiot for getting him in a trade last summer.
Wednesday's game is the Leafs' sixth of seven-straight on the road, a stretch that has seen them go 2-2-1, including heartbreaking losses to Tampa (goal in the last minute) and Florida (in overtime, after leading 2-0 into the third period).
After Thursday's game in Philadelphia, Toronto heads home to play the New York Rangers on Saturday at the Air Canada Centre (CBC, 7 p.m. ET).
Islanders improving
As for Wednesday's opponent, the Islanders are coming off an overtime win over Washington on Saturday night that gave them consecutive wins for the first time in over a month.
And they sit with a 17-15-1-1 record, a point back of the Leafs for ninth with two games in hand.
The problem on Long Island is an offence that has scored an NHL-low 79 goals in 34 games (2.32 average). But they have scored three or more times in five of their past seven contests.
Still, this might be a good chance for Toskala in the Leafs' net to bank a couple of points in the standings for his club.
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