Can the Maple Leafs Become a Team in One Day?

The Toronto Maple Leafs don't have much time to think about their opening-night loss to Montreal. The New York Islanders are in town tonight, and suddenly the Maple Leafs are playing their second game in two nights. Maybe that's not so bad. Sometimes the best way to get over a disappointing game is to get right back on the ice. But I'm not sure the Maple Leafs need to bounce back so much as settle down.

A lot of new faces were in the Toronto lineup Tuesday night. Sergei Bobrovsky, Darren Raddysh, Nicholas Paul, Jack Roslovic, Colton Sissons, Brandon Duhaime, Teddy Blueger, Zack MacEwen, Kirill Marchenko and Gavin McKenna were all getting their first taste of a regular-season game in a Maple Leafs uniform. That's a lot of new players trying to figure out where everybody is supposed to be.

The Maple Leafs Might Need to Stop Trying So Hard.

Jim Hiller said something after the Montreal game that caught my attention. “Everybody wants to do extremely well,” the new head coach said, “and sometimes that's more of a curse than a blessing.” That sounds about right.

Hiller also talked about players trying to do too much and getting a little tight. And that might be the bigger story coming out of the Montreal game. Toronto wasn't terrible. It lost 3-2. William Nylander scored twice. Marchenko picked up an assist. There were some good stretches. But there were also those familiar defensive-zone giveaways.

That is where a new team can get itself into trouble. Everybody is trying to make the right play, but sometimes everybody is trying to make the big play. Maybe tonight against the Islanders is where that starts to change.

Maple Leafs Fans Should Expect a Determined Islanders Team.

The Islanders are coming off a couple of seasons without the playoffs, and they aren't exactly arriving in Toronto without motivation. They've got a new captain in Bo Horvat, Matthew Schaefer coming off a Calder Trophy season, and some healthy players returning to the lineup. You can bet they'll come ready to play.

Which makes this a pretty good test for Toronto. Not because the Maple Leafs have to prove anything after one loss. They don't. They just have to start looking a little more comfortable together. That's the part I'm watching tonight.

The Maple Leafs have added a lot of interesting pieces. Now they have to figure out how all those pieces fit. Maybe that's what Game 2 is really about. It will be interesting to see what Hiller does with his forward lines. Don’t be surprised if Easton Cowan gets a more central role after what he showed alongside Nylander against Montreal.