I'll begin this article that you're not going to see any sympathy given for the latest disappointing entry in the history written by the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Leafs had every opportunity to write their own ending to this year's playoffs after all the bluster about being better, wiser, smarter, and any other adjective they wanted to use, but Toronto's NHL team will watch from the sidelines once again after an early exit from the postseason. The Leafs fell in seven games to the defending Stanley Cup champions, though, so they can pluck positives from the carcass of another season filled with promise if they like, but there's no denying that this season feels like one that was wasted after the efforts the Leafs gave throughout the regular season.
It's hard to single anyone out as the reason for this year's disappointment as Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly, and John Tavares were the top-five scorers for the Maple Leafs in the playoffs, compiling 15 goals and 21 assists in the seven games against Tampa Bay. One can point to the fact that Marner only had two goals or that Tavares' six points were underwhelming, but it's hard to blame the top-paid guys if they're doing their part in leading the team in scoring.
Perhaps you want to point at Jack Campbell as the reason as his 3.15 GAA and .897 save percentage are arguably far below where you need them to be if you're going to make a run, but his numbers were right behind that of Andrei Vasilevskiy who posted a 3.04 GAA and an .897 save percentage. As long as your goalie outduels the other goalie, the numbers don't really matter since Campbell actually allowed one less goal (21) than Vasilevskiy in their opening round. The only problem was that he allowed one more in Game Seven, but that's not entirely on Campbell in any way.
Special teams might be more of a concern considering that Tampa Bay's power-play clicked at a 21.2% rate while Toronto's only cashed in on 14.3% of their opportunities. The 4-for-28 Maple Leafs didn't see as many advantages as the 7-for-33 Lightning did, though, so Toronto it's not like their power-play failed them in any way. They should have been more efficient, but it's not like the Lightning held a massive edge in power-play goals.
So where, you may be asking, did the Maple Leafs go wrong? What if I told you that the Maple Leafs played well enough to win, but simply ran into a team that knows how to win in the playoffs?
Case in point is the fact that Tampa Bay is an incredible 18-0 following a playoff loss over the last three seasons - an NHL record for that statistic. I'm not sure what it's going to take to hand Tampa Bay two losses in a row, but there's no team that has done it in the nine-consecutive rounds they've played since the 2019 first-round exit they suffered at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets. As stated above, the Lightning simply know what it takes to win in the playoffs, and they do it every single time they need a win.
On the Maple Leafs' side of the coin, they became the first team in MLB, NBA, and NHL history to lose a winner-take-all game in the opening round of the playoffs in five-straight years. If you're asking, 2018 was a 7-4 loss to Boston; 2019 was 5-1 loss to Boston; 2020 saw the Leafs bounced by Columbus by a 3-0 score in the qualifying round of the bubble's playoffs; 2021 was a 3-1 loss at the hands of the Canadiens; and, 2022 was a 2-1 loss tonight to the Tampa Bay Lightning to help the Leafs set that dubious record.
If you're doing the math at home, the Leafs have been outscored in elimination games by a 20-7 margin. Of those seven goals, two of them were scored by the recently-retired Patrick Marleau, current Canucks defender Travis Dermott had a single, current Penguins forward Kaspari Kapanen had a shorthanded marker, John Tavares scored, William Nylander scored, and Morgan Rielly scored. There are a couple of names that are conspicuously missing off that list, but, like they promise every season, they'll try again next year.
Should this team be dismantled heading into the summer? Should we look for Kyle Dubas to make sweeping changes to his roster or dismissing coaches and front-office staff in a major overhaul? After all, how many times can the Leafs deliver this kind of heartbreak and disappointment to their fans?
The answer to the questions above are both "no", and it's for a very good reason in that had the Bruins finished ahead of the Lightning, we'd be talking about the Leafs getting prepared to play Florida rather than Tampa Bay getting ready. Toronto matched up so much better against Boston than they did against Tampa Bay, and it was fairly obvious that the series against the Lightning - a very experienced team that boasted solid scoring, good defence, and all-world goaltending - was going to test the Maple Leafs at every turn.
That's precisely what happened, and the Leafs responded by pushing the Lightning to the brink of elimination. Like the eight teams before them who fell to the Lightning, though, winning that fourth game of the series proved the toughest as the Lightning found a way to win. Again. And that's why the Leafs shouldn't be blown up this summer.
Let me be clear: the Lightning found a way to win as opposed to the Leafs finding a way to lose. It wasn't a failure in goaltending or a lack of scoring from their stars or a failure in special teams. And while all three of those factors could have been better throughout the entire series, the Lightning were just a little bit better in the end when it mattered most.
Unfortunately for Leafs fans, it's just another opening-round setback in their annual practice of opening-round setbacks. I can't say for certain if Simon and Garfunkel were Maple Leafs fans, but the ACC will echo with the sounds of silence once more this spring after another early Maple Leafs exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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