For a franchise that’s paying a retired Nathan Horton over $5 million a season to ensure David Clarkson doesn’t play for the team, does $6.25 million a year for coach Mike Babcock really suffice?

Since the calendar turned November, Babcock and his staff are working a collection of small miracles with this roster. The team is 10-7-5 since November 1, and has most recently registered points in six consecutive games (26 goals scored over that span).

They’ve got the best powerplay in the League by scoring chances per 60, and it’s climbing rapidly in overall PP percentage — they just broke the top 10 in the league (ninth with a 20.9% success rate) after four goals with the man advantage tonight.

With a hat trick tonight in the state of his alma mater, Tyler Bozak is outpacing you-know-who in Pittsburgh with 22 points in 28 games. He’s posted good half-seasons to start the year before, but as far as the most remarkable storylines 40% of the way through the NHL season, that’s right up there.

Leo Komarov is tied for tenth in NHL goal scoring with 15 goals.

They’re eighth in shots per game after finishing firmly in the bottom ten last season.

Worthwhile point about Leo: Last season, in late November, he took a dirty hit from Alex Ovechkin that knocked him out of the lineup for a month with a head injury. He wasn’t really the same after returning in the New Year. Sometimes forgotten: Before the injury, he started that season with 16 points in 23 games – a 57-point pace.

With Leo adding two more to his tally tonight along with a sweet no-looker between-the-legs assist, MLHS is pleased to introduce the Leo Komarov 30-Goal Project, a game-by-game tracking visual of Leo’s drive for 30 this year (glove tap to RMNB for the inspiration).

Stay tuned.

Notes:

– The meeting of two of the League’s hotter offensive teams did not disappoint, as the two teams lit the goal lamp 11 times in 60 minutes. This is only the second game — the first being the fourth game of the year versus Columbus — that the Leafs have won with sub .916 (league average) goaltending. I couldn’t kick the feeling throughout the game that Bernier was performing better than his numbers on account of the surplus of scoring chances at both ends. Checking the data, War On Ice has the Avalanche credited with 20 scoring chances tonight to the Leafs‘ 15. Pretty high. Babcock considers an acceptable night defensively to be 13 or under.

– Jake Gardiner offensive breakthrough? Jake Gardiner offensive breakthrough! As mentioned in the past couple of reviews, he’s looked real sharp moving the puck and holding the line on the powerplay, and he got his just desserts tonight with three powerplay assists to go along with an even-strength helper. The fit next to Dion Phaneuf is working, and given both players have been here since 2011 it’s pretty amazing we’re only now seeing this combination for an extended period of games.

– Pare down the list of players leading their team in goals, points, hits and playing a minute or more a game on both sides of special teams, and you’re left with two names: Leo Komarov and Jamie Benn. Tempting as it is to talk shooting percentage and sustainability and trade value and draft picks, let’s just enjoy the fact that Leo’s doing it all for this team right now and forming a big part of the club’s character and identity (Babcock’s Tomas Holmstrom, Leafs edition?). Dave Nonis made enough bad moves for two GMs, but getting on a plane on July 1 of 2014 to bring Komarov back to Toronto was not one of them.

– Babcock was throwing the Kadri line over the boards for the Landeskog – MacKinnon – Duchene matchup whenever possible — that matchup came out about even on shot attempts — but last change meant only so much was in his hands. The Bozak line responded with a great night. Here’s Bozak’s splits tonight:

Matchup ES TOI CF CA CF% Bozak vs Duchene 6:02 6 2 75% Bozak vs. MacKinnon 4:48 7 0 100% Bozak vs. Landeskog 4:53 6 1 86%

– The Leafs move to 8-4-1 against the Western Conference with the win. They’ll take on the Coyotes tomorrow looking to get to .500 for the first time this season.

Game in 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xonOrt10tS4

All Situations Possession Chart

Shot Location Chart

Leafs Player Stats — Toronto 7 vs. Colorado 4

PLAYER G A P +/- PIM S HITS BKS FO% PP TOI SH TOI TOI M. Hunwick 0 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 - 0:00 3:46 21:24 D. Phaneuf 0 1 1 -1 0 3 6 1 - 0:00 2:59 20:38 P. Parenteau 0 1 1 4 0 0 2 0 0% 0:00 0:00 15:42 J. Lupul 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 - 1:35 0:00 12:59 J. van Riemsdyk 1 2 3 4 0 3 1 0 - 0:00 0:00 16:25 S. Matthias 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 1 - 0:00 3:14 13:48 P. Holland 0 1 1 -1 0 0 0 1 10% 1:35 0:00 13:42 D. Winnik 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 100% 0:00 1:03 12:32 B. Boyes 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0% 0:00 0:00 10:23 M. Grabner 0 0 0 -1 0 2 0 0 - 0:00 4:23 16:55 T. Bozak 3 0 3 4 0 5 1 0 45% 0:00 0:00 15:43 N. Kadri 0 1 1 -1 0 0 1 0 70% 1:35 0:00 14:37 M. Rielly 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 0 - 0:00 3:06 25:16:00 R. Polak 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 5 100% 0:00 4:38 22:28 L. Komarov 2 1 3 -1 2 5 2 0 100% 1:35 2:18 16:26 J. Gardiner 0 4 4 1 2 0 0 1 - 1:35 0:00 18:59 M. Marincin 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 0 - 0:00 0:45 9:57 B. Froese 0 0 0 -1 0 1 0 0 36% 0:00 4:16 14:29

Mike Babcock Post Game