The Toronto Maple Leafs are down 3-1 in their series against the Boston Bruins.
It now appears that for the eight straight season, the Toronto Maple Leafs will send their fans home disappointed.
Game Four was a complete failure for the Leafs. They came out flat, and things didn't get better from there. Their stars were caught yelling at each other on the bench, and they once again failed spectacularly on special teams.
Let's break down the four main reason for their poor performance.
1) The Toronto Maple Leafs Power-play Woes
There is really nothing wrong with the Leafs offense.
According to ESPN, the Leafs have shot 100 times into the Bruins net, which is good enough to be labelled as a significant threat. In fact, that is good enough for being the third highest in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Yes, even higher than the Bruins.
Where they really struggle with the Bruins is in special teams.
Coming into Game Four, the Leafs were 9.1% on the powerplay. That was the third worst in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Bruins? Second at 50%.
And those problems carried into tonight's game.
The Leafs had three powerplay opportunities and could not come up with a goal in either one.
After tonight’s game the Leafs have had success in 1-of-14 powerplays in the series, whereas the Bruins have scored in 6-of-13 powerplays. That ALSO puts the Leafs penalty killing unit into question…heavily.