The Toronto Maple Leafs will begin a three-game swing through California on Wednesday, as they take on the Los Angeles Kings at the Crypto.com Center (formerly Staple Center), which is a moniker that just rolls off the tongue.
The Leafs have been rolling since losing four in a row last month, going 11-2 in their last 13 games, but one of the two losses was to the Kings, who got an excellent performance out of veteran Jonathan Quick and smothered the Leafs offense in a 5-1 win on November 8.
Toronto will finish the month on the road and 10 of the next 15 games away from the friendly confines of Scotiabank Arena. The Leafs added an extra body with cap flexibility because goalie Petr Mrazek is on LTIR, recalling veteran forward Kyle Clifford from the AHL Toronto Marlies on Tuesday.
"I think it's just to get an extra body up here,” Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said on Tuesday. “It's good to have reinforcements and just a good opportunity to be introduced into the group and have him around."
The 30-year-old winger, who played 16 games for the Leafs in 2020, was re-acquired from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for future considerations last week and played with two games with Marlies on the weekend.
Although Toronto cannot complain about their winning ways over the last month, their inability to convert offensively is something that Keefe is concerned about. In 13 games, the Leafs have only managed more than three goals on three occasions (and one of those was against Buffalo).
“We’ve certainly defaulted to the defensive side of the puck as of late, because that’s necessary for us. We’ve plugged some holes defensively and our guys have done that, but that’s no excuse for us offensively.”
Keefe said. “We’ve led in a lot of games and we’ve protected leads, but we need to be able to do both. If we want to be a great team, we have to be able to do both. That’s our continued focus. Generate more chances and make good on the ones that we do get, but don’t sacrifice defensively.”
Jake Muzzin will play for the first time in Los Angeles since the trade that sent him to Toronto in January 2019. Former Marlie Carl Grundstrom, blueliner Tobias Bjornfot (selected with the first rounder sent in the deal) are up with the Kings, and defenseman Sean Durzi is expected to make his NHL debut on Wednesday.
Former King Jack Campbell will make the start for Toronto.
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