Tuesday’s game against the Flyers felt like an inevitability. The Leafs have been winning a lot lately (they’re one of the hottest teams since November), but rarely have they looked all that dominant – not like the opening stretch of the season where they started 7-2-0.



The Leafs haven’t been bad – they’re still getting to the dirty areas with regularity – but it’s hard to say they’ve played their best of late. This team has a boatload of talent, especially on offence and it’s been difficult to tell on recent nights. Tuesday night felt like a breaking point, the third straight game where they were held to 25 shots or fewer and surrendered over 35 (it’s obviously worth noting that two of those games were without Auston Matthews). Winning games has a way of covering up flaws, especially when the team has one of the hottest goalies in the league.



The turning point was likely a three-game losing streak near the end of October which culminated in a...