Kessel's kryptonite

Paging Mr. Kessel. Paging Phil Kessel.

The NHL's leading scorer has enjoyed the best start to a season in his NHL career, but against his former team, the Boston Bruins, Kessel has been all but invisible. And his recent inability to produce has his hold on the NHL scoring lead hanging by a thread.

Saturday night's 4-1 loss to the Bruins wasn't entirely his fault, to be sure, but Kessel was barely noticeable in the game and his lack of production sure didn't help. The ex-Bruin was held pointless for the third time in four meetings against Boston and was minus-2. In four games against Boston this season Kessel has just one assist and is minus-7.

For those not keeping track, he now has just two goals and seven points and is minus-14 in 16 games against the Bs.

The 24-year-old left winger has played impressively this season, compiling 16 goals and 32 points in 26 games, but against the defending Stanley Cup champions he has been exposed as a player who cannot battle through adversity. Quite frankly, he looks a little intimidated.

On a night when the Maple Leafs No. 1 goalie, James Reimer, made his long-awaited return to the crease, Toronto continued its slide down the Eastern Conference standings. It wasn't too long ago that the Leafs were the top team of the league, never mind the conference, but a 5-7-1 record in their last 13 games has them moving in the wrong direction.

For the Leafs to be successful, they need their best players to be…well, you get the picture.

Nobody has ever denied Kessel's skill, but consistency has been an issue. He has a reputation as a streaky scorer, something he has vowed to change this season. Throughout most of the first quarter he was successful, rarely being held off the scoreboard. In the past five games, though, Kessel has taken a step back. He has no goals, three assists and is minus-7 over that span.

Kessel certainly isn't the only top scorer in the league to have difficulty producing against 6-foot-9, 255-pound Bruins defender Zdeno Chara, but at the end of the day, he needs to find an addition to his level of compete. Kessel needs to find a way to be more of an impact player when he is challenged physically. It's almost as though his speed is entirely neutralized when there is the potential of physical danger.

The funny thing is, Kessel has raised the level of his game for the most part this season, showing more determination when he is on the attack, but against Boston he seems to wilt.

The Leafs hung in nicely through two periods, but wilted in the end. With gritty players such as Mike Brown, Mike Komisarek and Colby Armstrong sidelined with injuries, they weren't able to stand up to the burly Bruins. Once again their inability to make the defensive zone a tough place to play for the opposition proved costly. Reimer looked sharp, having not played since Oct. 22, but the defence was soft and the forwards were not physically powerful enough to compensate.

Obviously the Leafs need a full team effort to be consistently successful. It has become increasingly apparent that there is too much pressure on the top line of Kessel, Joffrey Lupul and Tyler Bozak to score if the team is to win games. That line needs support.

The Leafs got a little cocky in the pre-season, suggesting their second line of Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin and Clarke MacArthur would challenge to be the team's top line, but Kulemin's inability to find the net has brought that notion crashing back to earth.

Still, if the Leafs are to make the playoffs, they need Kessel to continue to emerge as a bona fide star in the league. He has said repeatedly that his No. 1 goal is to avoid long stretches of inconsistency. Five games with no goals and only three assists does not represent a slump, but it's getting close.

If, at the end of the day, Kessel puts up decent numbers against other teams and the Leafs manage to make the playoffs, nobody will complain. But you kind of get the feeling the road to the Stanley Cup - and perhaps even the playoffs - runs through Boston. If that is the case, No. 81 had better dig a little deeper when it comes to games against his old team.

Veteran hockey columnist Mike Brophy will cover the Toronto Maple Leafs for sportsnet.ca for the 2011/12 season.