Ek’s Note: we are going to be treated out a feul new leaf writers over the next week or so. So I gotten many of your emails and I am going to add more Maple Leaf opinion based blogs to the website. We have a great community here and you deserve the best.. so today please welcome Cailean…. let us know what you think of Colin in the comments. I am doing a podcast at pm and will be back after with a new rumor blog..
May 15, 2025.
The day after…
Hello Maple Leafs nation. I hope you slept better than I did last night. Although my guess is probably not. One of the most anticipated games in decades took place last night and the home team barely showed up.. I see many people today writing about the fact that the Florida Panthers are just a really good team, they won the Stanley Cup, they have the experience in the playoffs, etc.
Is Florida Better?
These excuses are inane in my opinion, because not only did Toronto finish ahead of them in the standings during the regular season, in the first four games of this series these teams looked pretty damn evenly matched. The Leafs were one post away from being up 3-0
Is it the goaltending?
It sure doesn’t help when you can’t get a save for an entire period, and that was the second period last night. That was probably not all on the goalie.. To allow that many defenseman to score just points to bad coverage and lack of attention to details. There is hope Stolarz could be back for game 6. I do believe the team plays better with him behind them. He is more even in levelheaded than any goalie we’ve had in a while.
Is it the stars?
Matthews especially has been very disappointing. There is no way any team’s superstar player should be let off the hook if they only scored two goals in 11 games. In this series, Marner and Nylander haven’t been that much better.
Is it the coaching?
Berube has been definitely out-coached around every corner in these last three games. I feel Berube decided for some reason that they had to play Florida’s game to beat them. I’m never a big believer in that. You can never play another team’s game as well as they can play it. There’s a lot more fire power in our lineup, and that fire power should be trying to throw checks every chance they have or dump and chase. They need to make the same kind of adjustments. Edmonton is made after getting beaten up by LA early on. They’ve turned on their guns and speed and played Oilers hockey. Granted it’s not usually the kind of hockey that wins in the playoffs, but at least it’s honest in their style….
I’m still not at the mindset that this is over. One win in Florida and we’re back for a game seven. As dominating as game five was for Florida it doesn’t matter if you win 6-1 or 2-1. I do believe there’s enough experience in our room to not get caught up in the fact that we were embarrassed last night.
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