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To break playoff curse, Maple Leafs must make best of an uneven schedule

James Reimer

Toronto Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer eyes the puck while playing against the Buffalo Sabres during third-period preseason NHL hockey game action in Toronto on Friday, Sept. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)

AP

With the 2011-12 season rapidly approaching, the gang at PHT decided to take a look at all 30 NHL teams’ schedules. Each team’s highs and lows will be studied in detail to give you an idea of what the future might hold for each squad.

Note: Mileage figures via On the Forecheck’s “Super Schedule.”

Toronto Maple Leafs schedule analysis

Total mileage: 32,239 (second least in the NHL, lowest total in the Northeast Division)

Back-to-back games: 17

Toughest stretches

After a nice homestand to begin the season, the Leafs will play four straight games on the road, one home game against the Penguins and then three more away contests. (To clarify, that means they’ll play seven of eight away from Toronto.)

Late November represents the next significant test, as Brian Burke’s team will play on the road six times in a seven-game stretch.

Aside from a relatively reasonable four consecutive away games to end 2011 and an easy January, the Maple Leafs face their next challenge with five of six games on the road in February.

Their last rough run of the season comes from Feb. 29 to Mar. 19, when the Leafs play eight out of 10 games in hostile territories. That run ends with five straight away games.

Easiest periods

Naturally, the Maple Leafs will have opportunities to put runs together at home as well.

They begin 2011-12 with a five game homestand, including three games against Canadian teams. There’s one span of four out of five home games in the month of November and December each, but if the team makes the playoffs, it could be on the back of an incredible January.

They begin 2012 with four home games in a row, then visit the Sabres in Buffalo. After that skirmish in what can often seem like a home game away from home, the Maple Leafs will play five consecutive contests in Toronto. That’s nine out of 10 home games, but again, there will be plenty of Maple Leafs fans in Buffalo on Jan. 13.

Their remaining home streaks are pretty modest: a four-game stand in February and five out of six games in Toronto to close out March.

Overall outlook

Ultimately, the Maple Leafs need to keep their heads above water in the first three months of the season, take advantage of a huge set of opportunities in January and then hold on during some difficult spans in February and March.

Only the Devils enjoy a lighter travel schedule than the Leafs, although that might be counter-balanced a bit by 17 back-to-back games. The Leafs face a remarkably up and down schedule that is right up there with Buffalo’s bi-polar 2011-12 and the Rangers’ highs and lows. Hopefully the team will recognize how imbalanced their schedule is and ignore knee-jerk reactions from fans and the press during inevitable slumps.

It’s tough to say if this is “the year” for Toronto because their schedule will make things very unpredictable. If nothing else, one might reason that they’ll probably avoid the cellar in the Northeast but might not be a legitimate division title contender either. Making the playoffs should ultimately come down to managing the more arduous obstacles and taking advantage of some significant opportunities.