º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍø

One game away from the Eastern Conference final. One dreadful game, admittedly, and the captain of the Maple Leafs has certainly admitted it.

Many — fans and the commentariat — want to put the weight on him. Because he didn’t seize Game 7 by the throat, strap it to his shoulder as he had in a valiant Game 6. That view takes the Florida Panthers out of the equation, as if they had scarcely anything to do with that 6-1 grotesquerie. In truth, the defending Stanley Cup champions rose to the moment, imposed their signature modus operandi, exploited nearly all their chances and kicked the game out of reach halfway through Sunday night’s winner-take-all encounter.

Pick your scapegoat. Maybe Matthews, maybe Mitch Marner, maybe Joseph Woll, maybe the architects of this Leafs team, from Brendan Shanahan on down.

Befuddling to everybody how the Leafs bombed so spectacularly, in front of a home crowd, on a day that had started with plenty of jump at the morning skate and tons of confidence in the dressing room, just itching to get at it. On Tuesday — locker cleanout day and departing interviews — coach Craig Berube probably captured the essence of what went wrong.

“Sometimes you think you’re ready, you’re prepared to go out there. And you kind of just don’t have it.’’

It could be as simple as that — Berube emphasized a ruinous second-period breakdown in structure — but “simple’’ is unsatisfying and sounds feckless. Fact is, a team that had changed its style dramatically under Berube, more defensive-minded and structurally tight, lost its scoring marbles, what had long defined the Leafs.

Matthews had only three goals in 13 playoff games and just one against Florida, albeit the Game 6 winner. We knew he’d been labouring physically in a way that clearly impacted his shooting ability. In his final media scrum, he remained shtum on specifics of the injury.

Why the cone of silence, Auston?

“Because I can. Because it’s my right to, I believe.’’

He’s always been loath to overshare. But he did disclose how difficult it had been this season — from the giddy heights of 69 regular-season goals last year to 33 this year. There was an injury suffered in training camp, for which he sought treatment at a German clinic, but it stuck to him right through the playoffs. Some days were worse than others; there were several days during the post-season when he didn’t participate in practice at all.

“There were good stretches, there were stretches that were not so good. It was a bit of a roller-coaster unfortunately throughout the whole season, throughout the playoffs, just on a day-to-day basis.’’

Sure, players carry on through injuries in the post-season. Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl played through a broken rib and broken finger last year and is believed to be coping with a significant ailment again. But it’s impossible to assess the extent to which Matthews’ play was compromised due to his injury without knowing the details.

Anyway, it’s water under that bridge too far for the Leafs.

Talking heads and keyboard warriors can analyze Matthews’ performance six ways from Sunday, question his leadership bona fides, continue to begrudge his captaincy, how it was rather wincingly transferred from John Tavares last summer. The chatter doesn’t really amount to a hill of beans, other than … it’s that thing we do. The void is filled with opinion and biliousness.

Listen instead to the voices in the room.

Marner: “His leadership has developed in such a great way. The captaincy didn’t change who he was in this locker room, who he was on the ice, who he was in this city. Nothing went to his head. He took such responsibility, he took everything on himself really hard.’’

Tavares: “I was a captain for a long time and captain here for five years. He’s going to continue to be a great leader and continue to get better and to grow. You learn a lot through experience and I think through this first year as captain, especially here in º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøand all that comes with it, did a great job.’’

William Nylander: “He had a great mentor to learn from in John. I think he’s done an amazing job in his first year as captain.’’

Morgan Rielly: “He’s different from what you guys see. But I also think he has the right to be that. I don’t think he has to be everything that he is to us when he’s standing here. Everyone cares about him and he cares about everyone.’’

In the ravaged end, the blame was collective and the outcome doesn’t require a psychological autopsy of Matthews or the team.

I’ll give the final word to Willy Styles.

“Just a sh—ty game. That’s about it.’’