You feel the years of whining, entitlement and excuses melting away when you watch the Maple Leafs these days. It doesn’t feel like this has been a particularly sensational Leafs season. Auston Matthews and Nikita Zaitsev, the team’s best forward and best defenceman, respectively, have each now missed more than 20 per cent of the team’s games. But winning without key players requires a certain team attitude, and the Leafs seem to have that attitude. If this attitude sticks and becomes a permanent part of the Leaf fabric, they’ll really be on to something that should last.

Source: thestar March 17, 2018 00:00 UTC