Once again, the Boston Bruins have ruined the Toronto Maple Leafs path to glory in a style that is reminiscent of how the Maple Leafs haunted the Ottawa Senators in the early 2000s.
For multiple reasons in the past two years, Boston keeps coming out on top.
It’s hardly the disappointment it might otherwise be. The Leafs didn’t get swept like the Tampa Bay Lightning, who liked downright unstoppable until the games actually mattered. It’s not like the Calgary Flames that got taken to task by Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche in just five games. It’s definitely not like what happened to the Vegas Golden Nights last night. The Winnipeg Jets and Nashville Predators both disappointed in their series’ too, falling to underdogs.
Despite all that and being an otherwise interesting year for playoff hockey, the sting of another game seven loss in the first round remains very fresh. Again, the Leafs found a way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This time, there are two main reasons – Jake Gardiner isn’t one of them.
1. Poor Special Teams
Self-evident and self-explanatory. Boston scored on the power play a ton. Our power play didn’t. They killed penalties effectively. The Leafs did not.
No matter how bad the penalty kill was, Babcock threw the same guys back on the ice. No matter how non-productive the power play was, no adjustments to it were made. There was ample time to try new things throughout the year. The coaching staff never did.
2. Poor Coaching Decisions
This is a hot take making the rounds and no, Mike Babcock is not getting fired. That card doesn’t get played until his assistants are gone or he gets one more year at the helm.
With that said, Babcock’s over-reliance on players like Marleau and Brown, and not giving his star young players more ice time (especially for Matthews in game seven) was and remains mystifying. You win with your stars– especially when your depth wingers aren’t scoring much.
Tyler Ennis and Trevor Moore were playing great, so why not move them up the lineup? The world may never know.
Moving on…
Kyle Dubas brought in John Tavares and Jake Muzzin to make a very promising young team a juggernaut. It should have been. Both players didn’t disappoint at all and are great additions. Instead, we ended up with a team that did no better than it did last year when it should have.
Kadri got suspended again, Freddie and Gardiner had a bad game seven, Nylander hasn’t produced as well as he should all year (though his wingers stunk in this series) and sometimes these are all the rough parts of taking that vital next step.
Toronto really wants that, it needs that. This year it didn’t happen. With Hainsey and Gardiner almost certainly gone (and hopefully Brown and Marleau, too) there is some change coming. Promising young players like Jeremy Bracco and Rasmus Sandin are no more than a year away. It’s likely that a trade or two happens, as well. Marner will be locked up. There’s a lot of promise here and for years to come. This is a capable group of players.
But for now, there are no moral victories. Next season, scoring records, nice underlying numbers, regular season success and the growing pains young players must deal with won’t cut it any longer. The only thing that will is playoff success. Whether Babcock or certain secondary players will be part of that is another story.
All that matters is the next step – a deep playoff run and hockey god’s willing; a Stanley Cup.