The Toronto Maple Leafs disappointed themselves and their fans with their Stanley Cup Qualifiers loss, but what’s worse is just how little they actually led.
The Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs in their best-of-5 play-in series on Sunday night. Two days later, the Blue Jackets were back on the ice for Game 1 of their First Round against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Not a lot of time to rest and rejuvenate, especially given that this would make it four games in a six-night span for Columbus. Three of those were part of finishing off their round against Toronto.
Columbus and Tampa come into this series as recent rivals, with the Blue Jackets sweeping the 2019 Presidents’ Trophy-winning Lightning last year. Tampa Bay would surely be looking to flip that script.
This match was likely going to be closer than the standings would illustrate. Columbus is known for its style of shutdown play, which the Toronto Maple Leafs failed to overcome throughout their play-in series loss.
It was already going to be the toughest Stanley Cup ever for Toronto to win, given that they’d need to play more games and earn additional wins to get there, but that’s now a moot point.
Tampa and Toronto are built in a similar manner, both with an obvious focus on speed and offense. With the Lightning still alive at this point in the post-season, their strategy is clearly more effective.
The Maple Leafs couldn’t do enough to solve the puzzle the Blue Jackets presented them, but the Lightning is already a few pieces ahead from having experienced that challenge last post-season.
Leading into the first game between them, there’s no way anyone could have predicted just how close this Tampa Bay and Columbus series would be right from the beginning.
More Than Just Overtime
Game 1 of the First Round between Columbus and Tampa Bay began at 3:09 PM EDT and ended at 9:22 PM EST. Most NHL games last around three hours. This one needed over six.
The goal-scoring went back and forth, with Columbus starting the pattern in the first. Tampa’s quick one to kick off the third period would hold up as the tying goal, forcing overtime.
What came next was beyond being unexpected, as these teams shared the balance beam for over five extra frames. As a result, the NHL had to re-schedule the game that was to follow in Toronto.
Due to the length of the Lightning-Blue Jackets game, Game 1 between the @NHLBruins and @Canes – originally scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET today – has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 12, at 11:00 a.m. ET.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) August 12, 2020
Chances continued to be created at both ends of the ice, with shot totals that were nothing short of outrageous. Tampa landed 88, while Columbus took 63.
Joonas Korpisalo made 85 saves and took over the record for most in an NHL playoff game. He started this round exactly where he left off from the last one, dominating Toronto from his crease.
Then, just over halfway through the fifth overtime period, Brayden Point took a lacklustre shot from the slot which then ended the evening. It only makes sense that this type of game concluded that way.
These teams played about two and a half complete professional hockey games.
Furthering Toronto’s Failure
The Maple Leafs lost their qualifying series, taking it to the fifth and deciding game. Columbus did exactly what they’ve shown they can, in limiting Toronto’s chances while capitalizing on theirs.
For anyone that followed the series, it quickly became glaringly obvious that the Maple Leafs were making it even tougher on themselves. Toronto’s lack of effort was far from working to their advantage.
Tampa Bay and Columbus combined for 151 total shots in Game 1 of their First Round. Toronto was only able to muster 189 throughout their entire qualifying round.
The Leafs just didn’t create the chances that they could then hope to capitalize on, while the Blue Jackets simply outworked them enough to close out the round 3-2.
Fought to the finish.#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/MyrHJds55F
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) August 10, 2020
Having been a close battle shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. However, many expected more of Toronto given their lineup and the talent throughout it.
Winning only two games just wasn’t enough to make it into the playoffs, which is a failure in itself. Then, when you look at how little Toronto really did control it dampens the story even further.
Cumulatively, Toronto led for around one and a half games throughout the entire five-game series. That’s simply not an effort worthy of making it into the playoffs, let alone enough to challenge throughout them.
Game 1 of the Eastern Conference First Round between Columbus and Tampa Bay lasted longer than the entire duration that the Maple Leafs were able to hold a lead against the Blue Jackets.
If the Toronto Maple Leafs hope to achieve more, they have a lot of work to do. This team needs to not only earn more leads, but also learn how to maintain them for a lot longer than they were able to through the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifies.