That simple sentence resonates deeply within the soul of today’s generation of Maple Leafs fans. It hearkens back to the 2013 first-round series played by the Phil Kessel-era Leafs that turned a three-goal third-period advantage into a 5-4 overtime loss to the Boston Bruins 鈥 on goals with 10:42, 1:22 and 51 seconds remaining.
None of today’s Leafs were around for that game, though Florida’s Brad Marchand assisted on Patrice Bergeron’s OT winner that night.
It was the beginning of the end of that era of Leafs, with Brendan Shanahan hired as team president a year later. But the core has gone through its share of heartache in winner-take-all contests. Here’s a look back:
The Leafs had won Game 6 in 海角社区官网to force Game 7 at TD Garden, the 2013 series still resonating with the likes of Tyler Bozak, Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk and Jake Gardiner holdovers from that team. The Leafs held a 4-3 advantage going into the third after a short-handed goal by Kasperi Kapanen. But they simply couldn’t withstand the Bruins assault. Frederik Andersen was leaky in net and Gardiner had a minus-five night for the ages, on for the final three goals against.
Among today’s Leafs, Mitch Marner had an assist and was minus-two, William Nylander had two assists and was minus-one, Auston Matthews was plus-one and Morgan Rielly was minus-two.
This one might hurt the most. The Leafs had a 3-2 series lead and failed in two attempts to beat the Bruins. Kadri missed the final five games with a suspension. It was John Tavares’s first playoff as a Leaf and he scored their only goal in Game 7. Matthews, Nylander and Rielly were minus-two, and Marner was minus-one.
Actually, this one might hurt more. The Leafs and Blue Jackets pushed their best-of-five qualifying-round series to its limit. It was during the pandemic, so there were no fans at Scotiabank Arena. Jake Muzzin began a painful tradition of getting hurt and being unable to play late in series. The Leafs basically got goalied by Joonas Korpisalo, who had shut them out in the first game as well. Among today’s Leafs, Nylander was minus-three.
No, sorry, this is the one that hurt most of all. The Leafs had a 3-1 series, then lost three faster than Alex Galchenyuk could give away a puck. We were coming to the end of COVID. The Canadiens allowed 2,500 fans into the Bell Centre for Game 6聽鈥 although given how loud it was, it seemed like more. The Leafs were allowed 550 fans for Game 7 at Scotiabank Arena, with tickets given to front-line workers. Jack Campbell had taken over as the No. 1 goalie in those playoffs, but was a bit leaky and no match for Carey Price. Muzzin and Tavares were both hurt. Nylander scored a late goal, set up by Matthews.
Scotiabank Arena was full for this one and Nick Paul had the game of his life, scoring twice against his hometown team. Rielly, with assists from Matthews and Marner, got the Leafs goal. Muzzin was healthy(ish). David K盲mpf had joined the group. Campbell again was no match for a Vezina winner, Andrei Vasilevskiy. The legacy of this game, though, was the high degree of 鈥渞espect鈥 the Lightning showed the Leafs in the handshake line, a comment made by coach Sheldon Keefe.
At this point, losing to Marchand and the Bruins yet again, it seemed like fans had had enough of the Leafs’ version of 鈥淕roundhog Day,鈥 in which the same things happen over and over. Matthews set up Nylander for the opening goal, but Boston tied it less than two minutes later. With Ilya Samsonov not leaving his net to retrieve a loose puck and Marner not skating hard, David Pastrn谩k skated through them to get the loose puck and win the series.
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