Yes, the Maple Leafs have blown yet another lead.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans know this feeling all too well by now. The Maple Leafs had three chances to eliminate the Montreal Canadiens in the first round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs and failed to do so each time, resulting in their own exit from the postseason with a 3-1 loss in the series finale.
On Monday, during the most-dreaded Game 7 of all time, the Maple Leafs playoff aspirations ended with a whimper. It was quite a painful game to watch from the Maple Leafs perspective, as Toronto and Montreal played to a scoreless first period in a clear attempt not to make mistakes, but then the Canadiens got the opening goal three minutes into the second and that was… that.
There is set to be a lot of questions leveled at the Maple Leafs this offseason, but let’s start with what we do know:
- Toronto has not won a playoff series since 2004.
- The Maple Leafs have eight straight losses in playoff series clinching games.
- For the majority of the 2020-21 NHL season, the Maple Leafs were at the top of the North Division, ultimately leading by five points at season’s end.
This is no doubt an incredibly disappointing end to the Maple Leafs season. Toronto was favored and expected by many to be the lone team standing from the North Division after the opening rounds of the playoffs. This Toronto team was probably the best we had seen in some time, with a deep offensive lineup, a well-rounded defense, and goaltending that just needed to be average to win.
Instead, the Maple Leafs’ offensive dried up at the worst possible time. The NHL’s leading goal scorer this season in Auston Matthews — who had 41 goals in the regular season — was held to just one goal and five total points in seven games. Mitch Marner, the Maple Leafs’ top point producer this season, had four points in six games. William Nylander? Four goals in the first four games of the postseason, then just one in the final three games.
It’s not fair to put all of the Maple Leafs woes on the young stars of the team. Trade deadline acquisition Nick Foligno had one assist in four games, while Toronto’s veterans in Jason Spezza, Joe Thornton, Wayne Simmonds, and Alex Galchenyuk weren’t able to come up big when it mattered. Of course, the loss of captain John Tavares to an accidental — but very scary — injury in the opening moments of Game 1 hurt Toronto big time, yet the Maple Leafs were able to win three games without him, but not the fourth.
That’s not to take anything away from the Canadiens here either, as Montreal played out of their minds defensively. And when they weren’t able to keep the Maple Leafs to the edges of the offensive zone, Carey Price in net was there to save the day. Price was, without a doubt, the MVP for Montreal in this series, putting up a heroic Game 7 performance and posting a .947 save percentage throughout the first round.
And yet, if you’re the Maple Leafs, this playoff showing is nothing but a catastrophic disappointment. It’s hard to even say where Toronto goes from here, whether they deem this to be an aberration and that their players have more to give, or if they’ll make cataclysmic changes to their roster over the next few months in an attempt to shake off their ghosts once and for all.
One thing is for certain, however, and it’s that the Maple Leafs will absolutely be the team to watch this upcoming offseason after yet another inadequate, underwhelming playoff performance.
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