Prior to the start of the 2011-12 season many “experts” had the Vancouver Canucks as Stanley Cup favorites with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Flames and Ottawa Senators being hard-pressed to make the playoffs. While it is still very early in the season, Canada’s teams look to be holding their own in the NHL standings with Toronto currently sitting in second spot in the Eastern Conference, while the Edmonton Oilers currently occupy third spot in the Western Conference. Both Toronto and Edmonton can be referred to as early season surprises, but the bigger surprise may be the absence of the Canucks from a playoff spot as they currently sit 10th in the Western Conference. Toronto is getting it done with their potent offense which is currently ranked third overall at 3.14 goals per game, while Edmonton

Heading into Saturday nights tilt against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins expectations were high that the Toronto Maple Leafs would be able to extract a measure of revenge on the Bruins, a team that had dealt the Leafs their worst loss of the season, 6-2 on October 20th. For Toronto, a victory against the Bruins—who entered the contest in the Eastern Conference basement—could have served as a statement game. After a thorough 7-0 loss at the hands of the Bruins on Saturday night, it wasn’t exactly the statement the Maple Leafs were looking for. Bruins forward Tyler Seguin torched the Buds for three goals, his first hat trick of his career, playing a dominating game at both ends and standing up to Toronto’s futile physical attack on the 19-year old sniper. Given the fact that Jonas Gustavsson got

The Toronto Maple Leafs will face off against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins at the Air Canada Centre tonight in what many are calling a statement game for the Blue and White. The Maple Leafs were pounded by a final score of 6-2 at the TD Garden on October 20th in what can only be described as an embarrassing game for the Buds. Toronto enters tonight’s match with a 9-3-1 record, good enough for first overall in the NHL standings, while Boston enters with a paltry 4-7-0 record, ranking them 29th overall. Heading into the 2011-12 season few pundits had the Maple Leafs in the playoffs let alone atop the NHL standings and, while it is still early, history tells us that teams in the playoffs at Halloween typically follow through and make it into the playoffs at

When Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke pulled the trigger on a deal that sent Francois Beauchemin to the Anaheim Ducks for defensive prospect Jake Gardiner, a conditional fourth round draft pick and Joffrey Lupul, Gardiner was expected to be the jewel of the trade for the Maple Leafs. As it turns out, Gardiner’s play early on this season has been gold and surprisingly, so has Lupul’s. Originally drafted seventh overall by the Ducks at the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, Lupul, has a history of injury woes. He missed 24 games in the 2010-11 season due to back surgery, which was part of the reason the Ducks gave up on the young sniper so early. Lupul went on to play 28 games with the Maple Leafs last season, registering nine goals (two of which were power play markers) and

Heading into the 2011-12 season, plenty of questions surrounded Toronto Maple Leafs backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. Having fought through a change in his goaltending style from stand up to butterfly goaltender, two heart ailments and the death of both of his parents, Gustavsson can be excused for his 22-28-11 record over his first two seasons with the Maple Leafs. Gustavsson went 16-15-9 in his first season with the Buds. His 2.87 goals against average and .902 save percentage stand as his career best, at least thus far. Gus followed his 2009-10 season up with a trying 2010-11 season in which he posted a 6-13-2 record to go along with a paltry 3.29 goals against average and .890 save percentage. In his first start of the 2011-12 season Gustavsson got shelled for six goals on 46 shots, which equated to a

On the surface, when you consider the Maple Leafs are 7-3-1 on the season there is little to complain about. Sniper Phil Kessel is off to a hot start, Dion Phaneuf looks to be back as a dominating force on the blueline and Joffrey Lupul looks to be a nice surprise early on. As good as the Maple Leafs have been through 11 games, there are a few statistics that continue to haunt the Blue and White. In 2010-11 the Maple Leafs owned the 27th ranked penalty kill with a success rate of 77.4 percent. As bad as their PK was last season, things are actually worse this season as the Blue and White are currently sporting a 72.3 percent success rate on the PK, five points worse than 2010-11’s success rate. While Toronto has employed an aggressive forecheck on