A toilet seat season for the Toronto Maple Leafs so far

By Olivia Lawrence 

RP Show Intern

“The Leafs, HOLY, what a toilet seat, up and down they are this year,’ said Rod Pedersen on Monday’s episode of the Rod Pedersen Show. “How has it been watching them?” said Rod Pedersen to former Maple Leaf Carlo Colaiacovo, and now host of TSN’s “First Up”. 

“It’s really been the toilet seat, not in a bad way, in a good way,” said Colaiacovo. “It’s amazing when you’re going through rough times and there’s an instance in your season where you just look back and reflect and you wonder, okay, where did things turn? And it was the game against Chicago.”

The Leafs played the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 27 sitting 2-4-1 coming off four straight losses, with their biggest loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins 7-1. 

The Blackhawks were leading after the first period 2-0, but the Leafs came back a different team in the second and third period, winning in overtime 3-2. 

“The players came out and said it was a conversation,” said Colaiacovo. “It was a statement made in the intermission, in that locker room, where you had leaders step up and actually voice their strong opinions, that the way they were playing, to start the season, was just not going to be tolerated and was not acceptable.” 

Since the win in Chicago, the Leafs have won seven of their last eight games, including an overtime win against last year’s Stanley Cup Champions, the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

“But there’s still a lot of question marks for this team moving forward, it’s a matter of the consistency that they want to play with, and staying healthy,” said Colaiacovo.

The Leafs back-up goalie Petr Mrazek recently suffered a groin injury, which will put him out for at least two weeks, leaving more pressure on starting goaltender Jack Campbell. Campbell has been playing great so far, but you can’t expect him to play every game this year. 

“I think it’s pretty safe to say that this team is going to go as far as their best players take them,” said Colaiacovo. Their core four, with Morgan Rielly being their core five on defense, when those guys are clicking, they’re a tough team to beat, but when they’re not clicking, it’s a question mark of what their depth is going to bring.”

The Leafs are playing in a strong Eastern Conference and in the Metropolitan Division where Colaiacovo believes there could easily be five or six playoff teams. 

“We still have a long way to go, and only they can show everybody in Toronto that they’re willing to take that next step,” said Colaiacovo. “I think for Toronto too, people are over the regular season success, they want to start seeing the playoff success, so the real judge of this team will be determined come playoff time.”