Beating the Toronto Maple Leafs In the Playoffs Is Bad Luck
The Toronto Maple Leafs Curse
2019- Boston Bruins
You may remember the Leafs and Boston series from 2019 as the series that got Nazem Kadri run out of town. The Leafs star forward was suspended for game seven for the second year in a row, and it was costly.
The Leafs not only lost the series, but they were forced to move Kadri at the nadir of his value. The Leafs couldn’t even take credit for pushing a veteran team to the brink because the franchise has lost so frequently that moral victories don’t matter anymore.
After the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games in 2019, they went to face a Columbus Blue Jackets team that swept the President’s Trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning.
The Bruins would win that series in six games and would then take on the Carolina Hurricanes who surged their way to the Eastern Conference Final after beating the reigning cup champs in the Washington Captials, and sweeping the New York Islanders.
Boston would yet again come out with the victory and advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2013. Their opponents… the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues would blare Gloria in triumph, beating the big-bad Bruins in seven games to win the franchise’s first ever Stanley Cup… but more importantly, creating what I call, “beating the Maple Leafs curse.”
2021- Montreal Canadiens
Leaf fans have heard this one plenty of times… Leafs were up 3-1 and blew their first round series against the Habs.
This was a crazy series. Auston Matthews couldn’t shoot the puck and would have surgery after the season was over. John Tavares didn’t even get five minutes of ice time before being horribly injured.
The Leafs became the only team in NHL history to force overtime by overcoming a two goal deficit in back-to-back games and lose both times.
Of course that is a record held by the Toronto Maple Leafs!
After the miraculous comeback over the heavily favored Leafs, Montreal faced the Winnipeg Jets in the second round. The Canadiens swept the Jets advancing to Western Conference Final? Yes the divisions were weird let’s just move on.
Montreal’s next opponents were the Vegas Golden Knights where many had the Knights going to the Cup Final. But just like all the other teams in their way, the Habs would defy the odds, eliminating the Golden Knights to book their ticket to the Stanley Cup final.
The team they needed to beat were the Tampa Bay Lightning who were on a whole different level, beating every team in their way, in hopes to repeat as Stanley Cup champs for the first time since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2015-16 and 2016-17. Tampa beat Montreal in five games, making them the second team to make the list on, “beating the Maple Leafs curse.”
2022 – Tampa Bay Lightning
Even the strongest teams have fallen to this curse.
The Tampa Bay Lightning became the third victim to join the, “beating the Maple Leafs curse” list.
The Leafs and Bolts would go through a seven-game war, where Tampa would end up eliminating the Leafs thanks to a two-goal performance from Nick Paul.
In the second round, Tampa swept the Florida Panthers who were the presidents trophy winners which allowed them to advance to their third straight Conference Final.
The Lightning would then take on the New York Rangers.
It was an unexpected run for New York and it was a close series that lasted six games.
The experienced Tampa squad would beat the Rangers to earn a trip to the Final where they would have a chance to three-peat as Stanley Cup champions, however, they had to face a tough Colorado Avalanche team.
The Lightning were after their third straight Stanley Cup, but they couldn’t pull it off.
The Avs beat Tampa in six to win their third ever Stanley Cup.
2023 – Florida Panthers
This one hurts the most.
Florida Panthers, as 2016 Chris Jericho would say, “YOU JUST MADE THE LIST!”
The Florida Panthers were down 3-1 to the Boston Bruins in the first round and many thought they had no chance of winning this series.
The Cats crawled back to pull off the shocking comeback, eliminating the Bruins to advance to the second round for the second year in a row.
The Panthers eliminated the Leafs in five games in the second round of this years playoffs.
Sure, Florida played well, but the Leafs were the better team in the majority of the games – they just couldn’t overcome the suddenly rejuvenated Sergei Bobrovsky, whose run in these playoffs was among the best the game has ever seen.
The Panthers then went on to sweep the Carolina Hurricanes in the Conference Final, but just like all the other teams on this list, lost in the Stanley Cup Final.
Take my advice NHL, if you beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in the playoffs your guaranteed a Stanley Cup Final spot, but you won’t leave with lord Stanley’s mug.
Next. Re Drafting the 2017 NHL Entry Draft. dark
It is an incredible coincidence, or it’s a crazy curse. Who knows, but the facts are indisputable: for four out of the last five seasons , the team that eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs from the playoffs went on to lose in the Stanley Cup Finals.