The current crisis in Leafland, with the local heroes down 3-1 in a series one loss away from another humiliating playoff washout at the hands of the Bruins, comes down to the most fundamental of hockey concepts.
The very idea of the game is to get the black puck over the red goal line. And funny enough, it鈥檚 the singular hockey skill in which the Maple Leafs, under certain conditions, are undeniably gifted. During the regular season, no team has scored at a higher rate than 海角社区官网since that day in 2016 when Auston Matthews potted four in his NHL debut.
And yet during the playoffs, spring after spring, the magic is somehow drained from Toronto鈥檚 sticks. At a time of year when ratcheted-up defences unleash a more vicious species of guard dog into the slot and the neutral zone, the Leafs perennially morph into one of the lowest-scoring teams in the league.
And here they are again. The team that scored two goals in each of its final seven playoff games last spring has scored a grand total of seven in its opening four games of this seemingly doomed playoff run. Seven goals in four games. Zach Hyman, the former Leaf now playing in Edmonton, has six goals in three games all by himself this post-season. Steven Stamkos, at age 34, has five playoff goals for the Lightning.
No wonder members of the Leafs鈥 Core Four were caught on camera Saturday night bickering on the bench.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not yelling at each other because we hate each other,鈥 Mitch Marner, Saturday鈥檚 lone 海角社区官网goal scorer, said in the wake of Saturday鈥檚 3-1 loss. 鈥淲e just want to all be on the same page and help each other out to get the best offensive chance.鈥
Perhaps this isn鈥檛 a new plot line聽鈥 a frustrated fan base booing the Leafs off the ice at times Saturday聽鈥 because playoff goals aren鈥檛 often scored with skill alone. They鈥檙e often scored with urgent forechecks and desperate net-front roughhousing, often attributed to ferocity as much as finesse. The bulk of Saturday鈥檚 Game 4 was bereft of any real urgency or palpable desperation from the home team.
There wasn鈥檛 much skill displayed, either. Passes meant to go tape-to-tape went tape-to-turnover. The Leafs were both emotionally ineffectual and technically inefficient.
鈥淛ust a little tight鈥 is how head coach Sheldon Keefe described it.
Whatever it was, considering the stakes, it was inexcusable.
Post-season play is supposed to heighten a team鈥檚 intensity. Somehow it mostly seems to shrink the Leafs鈥.
The series isn鈥檛 over. The Bruins blew a 3-1 series lead en route to elimination in last season鈥檚 opening round. But it鈥檚 not ideal that Matthews, who鈥檇 missed practices in the lead-up to the contest, didn鈥檛 even come out for the third period, pulled by doctors, according to Keefe. He鈥檚 been sick, and also presumably sick of losing playoff games. Still, that doesn鈥檛 exactly explain why the most prolific regular-season goal scorer in the league has one goal in his most recent nine playoff games. William Nylander, playing in his first game in 10 days and his first of the playoffs after battling an undisclosed ailment, wasn鈥檛 much help.
Saturday鈥檚 obligatory third-period flash of furious desire was welcomed. But it was also too little, too late.
It鈥檚 an annual pattern repeating itself. The Leafs are getting out-goalied here, sure. The Bruins boast a .944 team save percentage, the best in the playoffs. Toronto鈥檚 work in the blue paint, by contrast, goes into Tuesday鈥檚 Game 5 at a mediocre .872.
But for the Leafs, ultimately it comes down to the inability to get the biscuit into the basket. Elsewhere in the league, it鈥檚 not as though other teams aren鈥檛 seeing their high-powered regular-season offence translate to the post-season scoreboard. Going back to the 2019 post-season, the Oilers and Avalanche are averaging 3.82 and 3.79 playoff goals a game, respectively聽鈥 more than a goal a game apiece more than 海角社区官网over that span.
It doesn鈥檛 help the Leafs have a penalty kill that鈥檚 often hapless. When Brad Marchand scored the Boston power-play goal that made it 2-0 midway through the second period, it came after the Bruins picked the Leafs apart with pinpoint passing through gaping lanes. Boston鈥檚 power play has six goals in four games, converting at a ridiculous 46 per cent.
It鈥檚 a double whammy that Toronto鈥檚 power play is 1-for-14 with the man advantage in the series聽鈥 a beyond dismal seven per cent.
A pre-game ceremony honoured the memory of Bob Cole, the “Hockey Night in Canada” play-by-play legend who died this past week at age 90. Even Cole, who called some of the iconic goals of Leafs playoff runs of yore, would have had difficulty making Saturday鈥檚 performance sound compelling. High drama was Cole鈥檚 specialty. In the most important moment of the season, this was a low-event letdown.
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