Ridiculous stat goes to show just how little NHL officials favour the Leafs
During the Leafs' game against the Avalanche Wednesday night, commentator Craig Simpson made a remark about how the Leafs have rarely been able to get a 5-on-3 powerplay this season, compared to Colorado's now seven (according to NHL dot com). Colorado's seven 5-on-3 powerplays this season ranks them 14th in that category.
The Winnipeg Jets and Minnesota Wild lead the league in 5-on-3 opportunities with 14 each, three ahead of the Senators who have 11 and exactly 14 ahead of the Leafs. If you can do simple math, that would tell you the Leafs have not had a single 5-on-3 powerplay this season. So for those that say the Leafs get preferential treatment, well, you're dead wrong on that one. More often than not, the Leafs have had calls go against them, whether it be a high-stick of their opponent clipping a teammate or blatant penalties on the Leafs that are just not called.
The Leafs are also in the bottom third of the league in terms of regular powerplay opportunities and have played shorthanded 5-on-3 five times. Only the Rangers, Islanders, Golden Knights and Kraken have had less 5-on-4 powerplay time amongst playoff teams. With 15 games remaining, it's quite possible the Leafs become the first team, aside from the New York Islanders during the COVID-19-shortened season (which I am not counting), since 2009-2010 when the stat began being tracked, to go an entire season without a 5-on-3 powerplay.
| POLL | ||
MARS 17 | 370 ANSWERS Ridiculous stat goes to show just how little NHL officials favour the Leafs Are the league's officials biased against the Leafs? | ||
| Yes | 286 | 77.3 % |
| No, it's just coincidence | 84 | 22.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
