海角社区官网

But this version of 海角社区官网accepted that moment with a reasonable amount of poise. Hell, William Nylander was on the ice in the closing minute of a one-goal playoff game, and made a real play. It probably helped that this was not a particularly special Ottawa team, and was in fact one of the two least imposing teams this Leafs era has seen in the first round, along with Boston last year. But you play the guys in front of you.

So now the Leafs will play a Florida-based defending champion that has only been to two consecutive Stanley Cup finals. And the Leafs have a chance not only to advance to a conference final for the first time in 23 years, but to prove some people wrong.

Some of those people used to run the team. That series against Florida in 2023 was聽鈥� as someone once wrote 鈥斅爊asty, brutish and short. The Leafs scored two goals in every game. Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner got buried by the Aleksander Barkov line in the must-win Game 3.

It was a true hinge moment for the organization. In the locker room after losing Game 5, defenceman Morgan Rielly said, fighting back tears: 鈥淚 love these guys. And I don鈥檛 ... I don鈥檛 ... I don鈥檛 want anything to change.鈥�

鈥淚 mean, yeah,鈥� said Marner that night, when asked if he wanted another chance with the core. 鈥淲e all got years left on our contracts. I mean, I don’t know. It’s not up to us, but we got a lot of belief in this group. We got a lot of belief in that core. And it sucks right now, but we got belief.鈥�

And when then-GM Kyle Dubas was asked whether he was open to a change in the Leafs core players, he said: 鈥淭he way that I would answer it is that I would consider anything with our group that would allow us a better chance to win the Stanley Cup. I would take nothing off the table at all.鈥� According to sources familiar with his thinking, he had decided his best players didn’t all hate losing enough.聽

Of course, Dubas also lost a showdown with team president Brendan Shanahan in that same media conference, so Shanahan let Dubas walk and hired Brad Treliving instead. The window to move on from the core was short. No-moves kicked in, and the Leafs relashed themselves to the mast of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, John Tavares 鈥� contractually he wasn鈥檛 going anywhere 鈥� and Rielly.

It鈥檚 not clear which player or players Dubas would have put to market. It鈥檚 not clear what would have been available. But had Dubas stayed, the core of this incredibly disappointing Leafs team would likely have changed.

Instead, last year 海角社区官网lost to the last gritty gasp of this semi-contending era of the Boston Bruins 鈥� between 2017 and 2024, the Bruins reached the second round five times, three times by beating 海角社区官网鈥� and adjusted. They exchanged Sheldon Keefe for Craig Berube, Chris Tanev and Oliver Ekman-Larsson were acquired, and the Leafs won their division for the third time since divisions were introduced in 1968.

And now it鈥檚 Florida again. When the Panthers smashed the Leafs the last time, they did it comprehensively 鈥� with the sneer of Matthew Tkachuk, the nastiness of Sam Bennett, the suffocation of Barkov, the cool of Carter Verhaeghe, the roar of Radko Gudas, the goaltending of Sergei Bobrovsky, and more besides 鈥� but Toronto’s core stayed, and now they get a second chance against much the same Florida team, with Brad Marchand on board to get one more Leafs demon into the room.

And who will have to fight through the nastiness, the hits, the defensive acumen 鈥� two Selke nominees! 鈥� and the playoff experience that Florida鈥檚 best players have? The Leafs core, first and foremost. You can鈥檛 necessarily expect the five goals from defencemen you got against Ottawa. Or for that matter, more goals from Max Pacioretty or Max Domi. Two years ago, this core could have finally been pried apart, but they鈥檙e back now against the team that could have undone them. Time to show why.