By DAVE MCCARTHY

From a scheduling standpoint, the situation was much the same a year ago as it is this season.

The Leafs went into the All-Star break with a pair of games on back-to-back nights before getting a week off.

In 2011, 12 points separated the Leafs from a playoff spot before their last two games against the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Both games turned out to be losses, and the gap quickly grew to 14 points.

Let’s put it this way, if the Leafs’ season wasn’t a writeoff before those two games, it was finished by the time they resumed their schedule on Feb. 1, 2011.

A year later and the Leafs once again find themselves in a similar position with back-to-back games tonight and tomorrow night – both against the New York Islanders – before embarking on the week-long All-Star Break.

The difference though? The gap this year is just two points between the Leafs and the eighth-place Washington Capitals.

Depending on the results of a pair of games involving the Winnipeg Jets and a game involving the Capitals, the Leafs could find themselves with a two-point cushion on a playoff spot or four points out.

That’s a six-point swing that could occur in the next two days.

While the Islanders have won three in a row, they are hardly a team the Leafs can justify losing to.

Dave’s Pick: Leafs (Season Record: 18-21)

Dave McCarthy writes and co-hosts A Foot in the Crease: A Hockey Podcast.
Follow him on twitter, @DaveAMcCarthy