TORONTO – The sick bay is nearly empty and the toughest stretch of schedule is over. Just like that, the pool of excuses once available to the Toronto Maple Leafs has run dry.
Now it’s up to this team to show what it really is with the midway point of the season at hand. A 4-3 shootout victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night was the last game the Leafs were forced to play before centre Tyler Bozak was eligible to come off long-term injured reserve – meaning that David Bolland is expected to be the only regular missing for Sunday’s game versus Carolina.
This is basically as healthy as Toronto has been all season. Surely, a spike in performance will soon follow for the 19-16-5 team.
"We’d like to think that, but I’m not going to take anything for granted," Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said. "We have to earn it."
It’s little wonder that he was stepping so lightly after a close call against the NHL’s worst squad. Coming out of the three-day Christmas break, Buffalo scored two goals in the opening period of a game for the first time all season and saw enforcer John Scott end a four-year goal-scoring drought in the process.
The Air Canada Centre crowd sent the Leafs to the dressing room at the intermission with a loud chorus of boos.
However, the tide turned quickly right from the start of the second period. Leafs winger David Clarkson drew a penalty on the opening shift and his teammates started to establish a presence in the Buffalo zone. Not surprisingly, the goals followed – three of them in total over a span of eight minutes five seconds.
"We started getting pucks in and we created some offensive zone time and we wore the opposition down for some extended shifts," Carlyle said. "When was the last time you saw us do that? We’ve been looking for that."
You could almost see the building’s pressure relief valve engaged when Jake Gardiner fired a laser past Ryan Miller to make it 2-1 midway through the frame. Peter Holland followed shortly after with a tying goal that carried some extra significance following the death of his grandmother, Helen Hill, on Monday.
"I felt like she was there tonight," he said. "It was a nice moment for me."
Phil Kessel then gave Toronto a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal in the final minute of a period that couldn’t have been more different than the one that preceded it. That was nearly enough to secure just the team’s second regulation victory since Nov. 21.
However, a questionable penalty to captain Dion Phaneuf late in regulation was followed by a Steve Ott goal with 24.1 seconds to play and Toronto was forced to grind out the extra point in a shootout.
There was an obvious feeling of relief in the dressing room afterwards. Goaltender Jonathan Bernier acknowledged that he didn’t have his best performance against the Sabres – "It wasn’t one of those games where I felt great" – and no one was happy with the sluggish first period.
Basically, it was another game that easily could have slipped from their grasp.
"We knew we had to respond," Holland said. "You can’t go down 2-0 in your building like that and just sit back and hope the game comes to you. At some point you need to get in harder and make a push."
It’s an attitude that will need to be on display during the 20 games still to be played before the Olympic break in February. The team has endured more than its fair share of troubles since a 10-4-0 start to the season and should be pleased to have made it this far while still remaining in playoff position.
Now essentially back to full health, the Leafs will be looking for more complete efforts.
"We’ve got to keep battling," Kessel said. "It’s a long year and there are ups and downs. We’ve just got to keep going."
There was some obvious satisfaction to be found in the fact that they were able to get the job done against Buffalo. Of course, it shouldn’t be lost on anyone that a victory over the Sabres should basically be expected by every opponent.
"I have lots of sleepless nights no matter if we’re winning or losing," Carlyle said. "I think the stress level goes up in games like this. … The positive is that we found a way to regroup and get ourselves back on track. But we have to play 60 minutes like we played the last two periods – as close to that as we possibly can.
"It’s not easy winning in the NHL."
Toronto knows it will have to be better – and with a little good fortune now smiling on the team there’s no reason for it not to be.