Maple Leafs keep winning, but can’t crack playoff plateau yet

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From a couple of slumps that dropped them in the bottom of the conference, the Maple Leafs are batting .500 again.

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But teams with playoff aspirations have to do a lot better than break even to earn a berth in the beastly East this year. Even after a 5-0 domination of the fading Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night, which lifted the Leafs back to a record of 22-15-7, they’re still on the fringe of the top eight.

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The job gets a lot harder with a four-game road trip next week that kicks off against the home of the league’s runaway leaders, the Colorado Avalanche.

But Saturday at Scotiabank Arena marked a nine-game points streak, 7-0-2, last achieved in November and December of 2023 under coach Sheldon Keefe. While Craig Berube’s second season began ominously, Toronto is not only winning, it is getting some injured players back.

The Leafs did stumble into a pair of too-many-men penalties in Saturday’s first period, four minors in all, six in the game, including a long 4-on-3. But they defused each one with relative ease. Joseph Woll, en route to his second shutout this season after making 29 saves, stopped Kiefer Sherwood point blank, but it was active sticks and blocked shots doing the best work.

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Power play is clicking

Meanwhile, the Leafs built a three-goal lead on just six opening-period shots. Matias Maccelli, hardly the biggest net front presence of a new power-play scheme introduced with William Nylander’s return, was found alone by Auston Matthews. Maccelli hadn’t scored a power-play goal since his Arizona Coyotes days in 2023-24.

Former Canuck defenceman Troy Stecher sent Max Domi away for a short-side goal on Thatcher Demko, then after the fourth minor was killed, Steven Lorentz spotted Nylander for a backhand breakaway deke. That stretched out Demko, who was replaced by Kevin Lankinen.

Nylander, who was out six games with a lower-body injury, returned along with defenceman Jake McCabe, who had missed all week with an issue in the same anatomy. Calle Jarnkrok and Philippe Myers sat, respectively, with the same lineup likely happening Monday in Denver.

Nylander stole a second-period puck to set up John Tavares for his 16th of the year, NHL point No. 1,154 for Tavares, passing Michel Goulet for 60th in league history.  Vancouver lost its sixth straight.

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Berube risked splitting Bobby McMann from Matthews’s left side after they showed some chemistry, putting McMann with energy forwards Scott Laughton and Lorentz. He kept only one line intact, Nicolas Roy between Easton Cowan and Nick Robertson, who added a late power play strike.

“Tough decisions, tweaking it a bit,” Berube said after the morning skate. “But it’s the way it goes, people go out, they come back and you have to make some changes.”

The Leafs came out with the intensity Berube asked of them in a potential sleeper game, with Domi and Cowan dropping the gloves.

Lhornby@postmedia.com

X: @sunhornby

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