5. Season Cut Short due to Pandemic
It was March, 10th, 2020 and the Toronto Maple Leafs had just won maybe their most impressive game of the season. Instead of a 6-5 thriller, Toronto provided great team defense and hung onto a 2-1 win against the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Then, out of nowhere, the world shut down. The NHL followed the NBA and decided to stop their league and resume play when able. When the season stopped, the Leafs had a 36-25-9 record. At the time, they were the third best team in their Division and it looked like they’d be playing the Lightning in the First Round.
Instead, the NHL changed their format, which allowed four more teams in each Conference the opportunity to make the playoffs. As the eighth seed in the Conference, the Leafs were forced into a Best-of-Five Qualifying Series against the Columbus Blue Jackets. We’ll get to that series later.
The biggest disappointment from the shut-down came from an individual perspective. Auston Matthews had a chance to score 50 goals in a season and become the fourth player in team history to do so. Instead, he was stopped short t an impressive 47 and never got that opportunity.
Matthews is arguably the best goal-scorer in the NHL and should score 50 goals in his career at some point, but it’s possible that never happens again. For all we know, that could have been his best goal-scoring pace in his career and he never gets a chance to break Rick Vaive’s record.
It was one of many disappointing moments that happened to the Leafs this year.