The Toronto Maple Leafs losing Game 5 of the Eastern Conference second round was perhaps the least-surprising result of this year’s playoffs.
Yet, in true Maple Leafs fashion, it was still shocking.
Auston Matthews has played through them all, and the superstar Maple Leafs center understood the ugly reaction from the Scotiabank Arena crowd late in Toronto’s no-show 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.
“I don’t think we gave them much reason to stick around,” Matthews said.
Despite qualifying for the playoffs in nine straight seasons, Toronto has won just two playoff rounds in that span. The Leafs haven’t reached the third round of the playoffs since 2002 and famously have not won — or even played for the Stanley Cup — since 1967.
Yet, the Leafs are one loss away from their season ending prematurely again.
Auston No Powers
Matthews may have great playoff numbers this season — 10 points in 11 games — but his inability to score in this series is a major reason why the Leafs are on the brink of elimination yet again.
Matthews has 401 goals in his career, and scored 33 during the regular season, yet he has just three assists in five games and was a -2 with six scoreless shots in Toronto’s loss Wednesday. Much has been made of Matthews’ defense in the series, but he had a crucial turnover that led to Aaron Ekblad’s ice-breaking goal in the first period.
Matthews has just three goals in his past 21 playoff games. Toronto is 8-13 in that span but 3-0 in games in which he scores.
“I don’t look at myself as a one-dimensional player,” Matthews said. “If I’m not scoring, I’m trying to do all the other little things that make the team successful, that make myself successful and try to be an all-around complete player.”
Much gets put on Matthews’ shoulders since he is the captain and leading goal scorer. But he is hardly alone in terms of underperforming in the playoffs this year, since running mate Mitch Marner has just two playoff goals, and one this series, and the Leafs have been outscored 8-1 over the past two games.
“It wasn’t good enough tonight,” Marner said. “I don’t think anyone’s happy about it. Time to reset, refocus and get on a flight to Florida and go win a hockey game.”
Likewise, Marner also had a devastating turnover, where he made a blind, back-hand pass that led to Jesper Boqvist’s second-period goal that made it 3-0. The floodgates opened from there, with Boqvist’s goal opening a four-goal onslaught over a span of 19:15.
“We didn’t take care of pucks; turned it over a lot, especially in the neutral zone,” Matthews said. “They transition well.”
Demons to exorcise
The Maple Leafs have not yet been eliminated, though you could excuse the hockey world from assuming the end is near.
Toronto is 3-7 in its past 10 potential elimination games, including a Game 7 loss in Boston a year ago and a Game 5 defeat at the hands of the Panthers in 2023.
Matthews has just one goal in potential elimination games, and it came in his rookie season when the upstart Leafs pushed the heavily favored Washington Capitals despite losing 2-1 in overtime in Game 6 at home.
Remarkably, this could be the end of the Matthews-Marner era too, since Marner is set to become a free agent July 1 and is likely to leave after a decade in Toronto. When asked if he thought of Wednesday being his last home game in Toronto, Marner said he had not considered that.
“No thoughts of that at all,” Marner said.
On top of that, the Maple Leafs are still carrying the longest championship drought in hockey history — which has become a colossal burden, despite the talented core, since they play in the center of the hockey universe.
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