Northern Voice
Footballguy
Yeah, I watched the game too, the Leafs literally almost never had the puck. It's doesn't have to be a full on board rattling hit to count, they count lots of little bumps. I don't think the Leafs are a hard hitting team, but I think they're constantly trying to get the puck from the other team (if you follow advanced stats, they're the 2nd worst possession team in the NHL - they're also 2nd in the NHL in hits) and they just have way more opportunity to deliver the small hits.The bolded I understand. But 56 hits? The guy tabulating hits obviously was looking for something to do. No way Toronto had that many hits, especially having watched how that game played out.I absolutely believe it. If a team racks up a ton of hits in a game it's because they never had the puck. Usually the team with the most hits loses -Right now San Jose is last in the league in hits. Last season Chicago was last.After watching last night's Leafs/Sharks game and seeing how Toronto was scored with a NHL season high in hits, I have zero faith in that stat.
The Couturier/Read/Downie line has been their best line for a while now. Glad to see Coots finally getting to play with some other skilled players and not some third line plugs.