That One Hurts

I'm not a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, but that one had to hurt. Despite carrying the momentum of a big Game Six road win home for a game where they had a full Scotiabank Arena crowd behind them, having the Florida Panthers lay a resounding beating on the Leafs to the tune of a 6-1 score will leave a lot of fans wanting to smash things like the gentleman above. Just like every summer since 1967, there will be no parades, no celebrations, and another year of what-ifs for Leafs fans.

One may point to the second period where this game got out of hand for the Maple Leafs. Florida outshot Toronto 18-5 in the frame, and the Panthers scored three times in the first ten minutes. The Maple Leafs saw Mitch Marner yelling at his teammates, and the Leafs seemed to respond as they upped their game. The only problem was they couldn't beat Bobrovsky in the period.

"We just didn’t handle the pressure tonight that they came with," Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube said. "It obviously wasn’t good enough."

And so it goes as Toronto falls to 0-7 in its past seven Game Sevens. At what point does Leafs management consider more drastic changes than just tinkering with the fringes and looking for value in castoffs? Which of the key performers decides to either take less or move on from the team in order to change the path this team is following? How can this team push past the crushing history it keeps writing?

If I had those answers, I'd likely be on the Leafs' payroll as these are all questions that have been asked over and over before, and the Maple Leafs are no closer to an answer than they were five, ten, or even twenty years ago. Tomorrow, Brad Treliving and his management team will wake up, look in the mirror, and ask himself where things went wrong just as Kyle Dubas did, just as Lou Lamoriello did, just as Dave Nonis did, and just as Brian Burke did. Answers will be needed.

"I don't know how it really got away from us," Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews said. "I think just not on the same page in different areas of the game."

It's hard to imagine that anyone will be happy with the captain not giving a clear answer as to where he believed the game got away from the Maple Leafs, but I'll give him some benefit of the doubt as Matthews is still likely collecting his thoughts and sifting through the disappointment once more. However, that moment of reflection will need to be far more concise the next time he speaks with the press because this is now the second-straight year where Matthews' moment of reflection leaves one wanting some better insight.

"We were right there," Matthews said following the 2-1 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins in Game Seven last season. "It didn't go our way."

He may be the captain, but I wasn't aware that meant he was Captain Obvious. A 2-1 overtime loss would certainly indicate that "it didn't go our way" just as much as a 6-1 thrashing on home ice falls into the "I don't know how it really got away from us" category. I'm not expecting Matthews to wax poetic about the Panthers nor am I wanting him to throw teammates under the bus, but give us something that will ease the pain after another devastating loss.

As stated, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this in that he just suffered another loss in the biggest game of the Leafs' season, but I'm thinking it will be difficult to bring back both Mitch Marner and John Tavares if the Leafs are ever going to change their fortunes. That's not to say that both players aren't scoring or doing their parts, but the Leafs are the definition of insanity based on all the players they choose to keep while expecting the results to change.

Obviously, someone who gets paid a lot of money to work in an office at Scotiabank Arena will need to sift through the rubble of another defeat to see where the Leafs can rebuild. There are certainly pieces that they'll want to keep, but there are assets that could fetch some solid players if they were to listen to offers. It will all play out of the next few weeks and months as the Leafs look to figure out where things went wrong and regroup, but this loss will certainly lead to changes, possibly both on the roster and in the front office.

The belief in this franchise will return to the Toronto faithful, but it feels like those fans may want a little time to recover from this loss. As stated off the top, this one had to hurt after it seemed Toronto had all the momentum heading into Game Seven on home ice.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!