Toronto Maple Leafs: Good Start But the Job Nowhere Near Finished

Whenever the Toronto Maple Leafs make the playoffs, I become an emotional train wreck.

After driving two and a half hours back to Oklahoma on Monday morning, I sat down in my room with the Toronto Maple Leafs game fired up on my PS5. I was ready to go for another playoff run. Then disaster struck.

About 10 minutes before puck drop, the tornado siren went off. After some colorful words, my roommate and I walked down to the tornado shelter, which thankfully had a wi-fi signal. There I sat, surrounded by my fellow OU students, wearing a Leafs jersey and a lap top open in front of me. When Jake Muzzin opened the scoring, I might have gotten a few weird looks. I will leave it at that.

So what should Leafs fans make of game one vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning?

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning

Firstly, that was the best I’ve seen the Leafs play to open a playoff series in my life. That was nothing short of complete and utter domination. Everything the Leafs have done better this season: winning puck battles in the corners, defensive zone play, the penalty kill, you name it. It was all there in game one.

We Leafs fans have been dreading another playoff failure, and who could blame us? However, I think in our moaning and groaning, we’ve forgotten something.

The players have lived through those failures too.

Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner played like men possessed. Both of them have already scored more goals than they had in the entire Montreal series last year. They know. They know that the Leafs are the butt of jokes, and they played like they want to put the past to bed. They played unselfish hockey. The Leafs blocked 20 shots in game one. They want this so badly.

But here’s the thing: this series isn’t over. Not by a longshot.

You’re a fool if you think the Bolts are going to go down without a fight. That’s why the Leafs can’t let up. I’m encouraged by how the Leafs looked in the final minutes of game one, but we all know that these seven game series can get out of hand quickly. The Leafs need to repeat that effort in every game of these playoffs if they want to win the cup.

That’s right, win the cup. Not just this series.

This team wasn’t put together to end the playoff series drought, it was put together to end the Stanley Cup drought. And since the trade deadline, I’ve been wrestling with how I feel about this team. Everything the Toronto Maple Leafs need to make a cup run is on the roster. The scoring, depth, coaching, experience, defense, everything is there.

Only one thing seemed to be missing: the goaltending.

Jack Campbell was among the worst goaltenders in the NHL after the calendar flipped to 2022, and we were told it was due to injury.

Since returning, Campbell has been back to his old self. Don’t look now, but the Labrador Retriever has back to back shutouts. He’s back.

In the playoff failures of the last decade, the Toronto Maple Leafs have won the opening game once. That was the third Bruins series in 2019. Toronto is in the driver’s seat, but we shall see what happens in game two.