Big-picture takeaways from the Maple Leafs’ seven-game winning streak

The Maple Leafs are on their first seven-game winning streak in 20 years.

It is almost hard to believe it’s been so long, but stringing together wins in the NHL is hard. It takes a combination of strong play, some lucky bounces, and catching some opponents at the right time.

I’ve always believed that a team is never as good as it looks on a winning streak and never as bad as it appears on a losing slump. We accentuate the negatives in a bad spell of games and gloss over the issues during a good stretch of play. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.

But good things are happening right now for the Maple Leafs, and it’s important to take away the right lessons from them.

The first…