Alec Brownscombe

The high of the Marchenko trade –> the Marchenko-Matthews line flying out of the gates from the opening puck drop –> William Nylander following up in their wake, walking Nick Suzuki, and ripping it past Jakub Dobes in the first minute of this game is something Leafs fans will want captured in a vial and […]

I’m envious of anyone who went to bed after 20 minutes, able to rest their head on the pillow believing the Maple Leafs just might be starting to put their game together early in this young season. The Leafs stormed out to a 3-0 lead inside nine minutes in Vegas. Jack Roslovic opened the scoring […]

Ahead of their trip to Colorado, the Maple Leafs have recalled winger Miles Wood, acquired in the Kirill Marchenko-Matthew Knies trade with Columbus, from the Toronto Marlies. As we wrote after the shootout loss last night in Vegas, after four games of evaluating Duhaime-Blueger-Groulx, it seems like it’s time to try a new look. The […]

The Maple Leafs showed their offensive prowess and late-game fight in Utah, nearly erasing a three-goal third-period deficit, but another rough second period and some terrible goaltending left them with too much to overcome in a 5-4 loss. I liked the Leafs’ pace, effort, and forechecking at times in the first period, but their puck […]

As bizarre as it seems to write about a 21-year-old second-year player, most of the rest of the team needs to watch the tape of Easton Cowan in the first half of the third period. Cowan was one of the few Leafs still actively trying to play the game rather than standing around and hoping […]

The Maple Leafs’ offense hit the skids in a low-event game against the Islanders, who were down to 10 forwards after the first period. At five-on-five, the Maple Leafs generated just six high-danger chances (by Natural Stat Trick’s count) before garbage time late on, and none came from the top line in 11 minutes of […]

Quietly, the San Jose Sharks were 4-0-0 against the Maple Leafs in the Macklin Celebrini era despite missing the playoffs in both seasons. Inside those games, Matthews and Celebrini went head-to-head three times (Matthews missed one of the games due to injury), and Celebrini decidedly won those minutes in the run of play. Tonight, it […]

Given the Maple Leafs’ speed, skill, and finishing ability up front — and generally how dangerous they’ve looked offensively early in the season — this was a stat that made absolutely no sense through 10 games: Early trend with the Maple Leafs…Excellent goal differential with play established in the offensive zone. Rush game, not so […]

The Maple Leafs scored five in this regulation win over the Rangers, four at even strength and one on the power play, without a goal from Auston Matthews or William Nylander. Offensively, this looks like a team that’s not just talented — which was apparent from jump — but is now starting to smooth out […]

You are forgiven if you didn’t see the first-period result and overall outcome coming, given how this game in Calgary started from the Maple Leafs’ perspective. The Leafs came out buzzing, attacking in waves and opening up a 5-1 edge in shots. Jack Roslovic beat a defender one-on-one for a dangerous early look, the fourth […]