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There will be enough time to do a detailed autopsy of what is wrong with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but like any wise coroner on NCIS, CSI, or Quincy, the preliminary cause of death is pretty obvious.
After beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games when they were not the better team in four of the six contests, the Leafs have been generally outplayed and outhustled by the Florida Panthers.
To be more specific, the star players for the Panthers (Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, Aleksander Barkov, Sam Reinhart) have shown up when needed and the well-compensated core group of the Leafs (Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares) have been ghosts.
The 3-2 overtime loss in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Final is just the latest example of the Leafs top players shrinking in the face of adversity.
In three games against Florida, Toronto’s core four have no goals, four assists and are a collective -10, while the six goals have come from secondary sources named Michael Bunting, Matthew Knies, Alex Kerfoot, Ryan O’Reilly, Sam Lafferty, and Erik Gustafsson.
The reason for this club being one game from elimination is not on the goaltending. Ilya Samsonov has been good enough to win games, and rookie Joseph Woll was admirable in relief and not at fault for any of the three goals he allowed in Game 3. No one knows if a healthy Matt Murray and his history of playoff success would have made a difference.
You have to look at the performance that the Panthers are getting from Sergei Bobrovsky with envy, since Freddie Andersen, Jack Campbell, or Samsonov have never played up to that level in the playoffs the last seven years.
Courtesy of Hockey Night In Canada, this shows how out of position Justin Holl was on Duclair's breakaway. Being where he is on a penalty kill is inexcusable. #Leafs pic.twitter.com/75z6znARAx
— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) May 8, 2023
It is not on the defense, although it continues to be puzzling that the coaching staff heaps too many minutes on veteran TJ Brodie, and plays an obviously flawed defenseman like Justin Holl (responsible for Anthony Duclair’s breakaway goal in the second period), and a dangerous (at both ends) Gustafsson over Timothy Liljegren in a key game.
When you consider that the vaunted Toronto offense has scored two goals in each of the last five games, it is simply not good enough and it leaves little margin for error.
Normally after a loss of this magnitude, the players or head coach Sheldon Keefe would offer some insight into what or why things happened. Everything said after the game sounded like the same excuses from this group that we’ve heard since 2017.
Based on what has occurred in the eight days since eliminating the Lightning, you could reasonably draw the conclusion that the Leafs accomplished their goal of winning a round in the playoffs and snapping their 19-year playoff drought. Toronto appeared to have a chance in the East with the road clear of Boston and New York, but that depended on the Leafs finally being able to shake off their playoff demons.
What Toronto has shown is that they are still haunted by an inability to step up and be counted at the time of year when it matters.
Sam Reinhart with the overtime game-winner to give Florida a 3-0 (!) series lead over Toronto pic.twitter.com/u5tWOX4pS8
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) May 8, 2023
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