Despite the abundant success this core of the Toronto Maple Leafs has had in the regular season, that success has yet to follow them into the postseason, and no statistic is as telling in that regard as "the big three's" record in potential series clinching games.
After coming up short in overtime and failing to complete the sweep at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday night, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander now have a pitiful record of 1-12 in potential series clinching games in the postseason.
In fact, Matthews himself is 0-7 in his career in Game 7's and Championship games, which includes the 4 Nations Face-Off final from earlier this year in which Team USA was bested by Team Canada in overtime.
This team's troubles in the playoffs have been well documented, with many people thinking this playoff run was the team's last chance to show that this core was capable of getting it done. John Tavares, Mitch Marner, and Matthew Knies are all free agents at seasons end, meaning there is a chance this team looks a whole lot different next year depending on how this postseason goes.
Despite the lack of success this team has had once the calendar turns to April, there was a different vibe around the team this year. The club won the Atlantic Division for the first time in franchise history, meaning they got to avoid playing the Panthers or the Lightning in the first round, and they came into their first round matchup against the Senators with a genuine "favourite" vibe, which I'm not sure can be said for the last several years against the Bruins or Lightning.
After taking care of business at home and going to Ottawa up 2-0 in the series, an unlikely hero in Simon Benoit played hero for the Buds in overtime in Game 3, and all of a sudden, the snakebitten Maple Leafs had a chance for their first playoff sweep since 2001, which also happened to be against the Sens. It wasn't to be though, as Jake Sanderson buried a wrister in overtime in Game 4 to push this series back to Toronto for a Game 5.
The Maple Leafs next chance to eliminate the Senators and move onto the second round comes tomorrow night on home ice as Matthews, Marner, Nylander and the entire core will look to exercise their playoff demons.