The Toronto Maple Leafs clearly made a move in the right direction last year.
They showed the kind of pluck, talent, speed and quickness to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2003-04 season. The Maple Leafs showed that they could put the puck in the net during the lockout-shortened season. They averaged 3.02 goals per game, the sixth best figure in the NHL.
They did a lot of things right. They played an aggressive game throughout the season and they led the league in hits with 1,626, 180 more than the Los Angeles Kings, who ranked second in that category.
Maple Leafs' Leading Returning Hitters
Player
Hits
Goals
Assists
+/-
PIM
Mark Fraser
153
0
0
18
85
Dion Phaneuf
131
9
19
-4
65
Cody Franson
124
4
25
4
8
Nikolai Kulemin
122
7
16
-5
22
But a strange thing happened to the Maple Leafs when they got into their first-round playoff series against the Boston Bruins. The top-rated Maple Leafs stopped hitting effectively. They may have gone after the Bruins and tried to check them by putting body on body, but they could not knock them out of the crease and ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Steve Silverman
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