Best foot forward

This has been a frustrating road trip to the west coast. The Leafs are 2-1 so far with the only win coming against the banged up Mighty Ducks. Are they still called the Mighty Ducks, or just the Ducks? Who cares i guess, the Leafs won. No team is expected to do well on those long road trips to the west coast but with the expectations around the Leafs this year, every game is expected to be a winner. If this road trip has done nothing but temper expectations that could be a good thing.

The expectations for this team have been unrealistic since training camp. It's not the fault of the teams fan base but the media is who i point my finger at. With so many sports talk shows, bloggers, podcasts and youtubers following and talking about the mighty Maple Leafs the need for content is pressing. There has to be something to talk about at all times. And i feel like that's what happened this off season and training camp. There was not much to talk about besides a couple of positions up for grabs, so the ceiling for this year was set as topic of discussion. Vegas even jumped on board with naming the Leafs as favourites to win the Stanley Cup.

Any realistic fan (that's how i see myself) was happy with the Leafs start, record wise. But the wins were not the way we had hoped they would be. With all the hype a lot of us believe the team would steam roll over any opposition. That has not been the case, all wins so far have been by the skin of their teeth. And that is scary but also why i remain hopeful. I understand that it doesn't make sense to be hopeful for a team that has barely won the games it has won so far. But the fact that the team has a winning record with the very bad defensive play and below average play in net has given me hope. Because when Freddy and the team starts playing any amount of defence, this team will steamroll the opposition.

Tonight is the Last game of this road trip, the only catch is that it is against the Western conference leading St.Louis Blues with 10 wins and 3 losses. If the Leafs are looking for a challenge to put their best foot forward, then tonight is the night. They have to come out of the dressing room ready to play and to play hard if they hope to end this west coast swing on a winning note. This will be a true test and turning point on the first half of the season. That's also an important point, there is still a lot of season left. Lots of teams have ups and downs and still make the playoffs. That's the main goal of the season, to make the playoffs and from there anything can happen. I like Babcocks way of segmenting the season into 5 games at a time. Tonight is also the last game of the third segment, lets get those 2 points and hit the road for home.

#standwitness