Toronto Maple Leafs Collapse in Florida Is Nothing to Worry About

The Toronto Maple Leafs blew a 5-1 lead on Tuesday night, but fans shouldn’t be concerned.

Blowing a 5-1 lead is always frustrating, but the Toronto Maple Leafs and their fans shouldn’t be freaking out because of it.

Previous to the game in Dallas, Toronto had scored five or more goals in six consecutive games, is 5-0-1 during that stretch and have beaten the Florida Panthers, Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning all within that run. Losing in overtime to the Panthers stings, especially in the way it happened, but it’s not that big of a deal.

Over the past two weeks, Toronto has been playing unbelievable hockey, offensively.

Led by Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, those two are arguably the best duo in the NHL right now and they have a chance to score every time they step on the ice. That continued against the Panthers on Tuesday night, but unfortunately their legs caught up to them.

After getting out to a 5-1 lead, the game seemed out of hand. Toronto seemed likely to be on their way to their sixth consecutive victory, while securing four points against Florida and Tampa.

However, we all forgot just how dominant Florida’s offense has been this year. In fact, they’re scoring at a higher rate than the Leafs and that 5-1 lead disappeared quickly.

Although, they blew the lead, fans shouldn’t be worried about this happening again in the playoffs.

Blown Lead is a Huge Wake-Up Call for Toronto Maple Leafs

The game got weird when Erik Kallgren allowed one of the worst goals of the season and then randomly got hurt from a wrist shot.

After playing the night before (and playing great), Jack Campbell was called upon in a very tough situation. Coming off the bench is cold is always an issue, however having to face one of the best offensive teams in recent history well doing so, is almost impossible.

Campbell looked rusty, but as the game progressed, he got much better and is a reason why the team even made it to overtime.

With a cold goaltender, while playing their third game in four nights, Toronto just ran out of gas. Things like this happen all the time in hockey. Once you get out to a big lead and you’ve been playing so often over such a short period of time, it’s easy to get fatigued and fall apart.

I’m not saying it’s a good thing, but it happens. And, at least Toronto didn’t fall apart completely.

They showed a lot of resilience in the third period by scoring with three minutes left and sending this game into overtime. They had a ton of chances to end the game in overtime as well, but 3-on-3 overtime is luck and they were unfortunately on the wrong end of it.

There’s no 3-on-3 overtime in the playoffs for a reason, so losing in this fashion is no big deal.

When the Leafs blew a 5-1 lead against the Ottawa Senators last year, that was ugly. They lost 6-5, looked lifeless in the third and it was the most embarrassing loss since losing to a Zamboni driver. However, blowing a 5-1 lead to Florida while playing your third game in four nights is not that bad.

Fans should be pumped that Toronto was able to score six goals against one of the best teams in the NHL and grabbed three out of four points in the Florida swing, instead of thinking the world if falling because they lost a game in 3-on-3 overtime.

This is an amazing time to be a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. Let’s enjoy the craziness of the regular season and hold on for the rollercoaster ride that the playoffs will bring in a few weeks.