TORONTO -- The Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Florida Panthers with a 6-1 loss in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Second Round at Scotiabank Arena on Sunday.
The Maple Leafs (52-26-4) finished first in the Atlantic Division with 108 points, six ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning and eight of the Panthers. Toronto then won only its second postseason series in 21 years by eliminating the Ottawa Senators in six games in the first round.
Toronto got off to an encouraging start in the second round by winning the first two games against Florida, only to lose four of the next five. The Maple Leafs have gone 23 years without reaching the conference final; it hasn’t reached the third round since 2002 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The skinny
Potential unrestricted free agents: Mitch Marner, F; John Tavares F; Max Pacioretty, F; Steven Lorentz, F; Jani Hakanpaa, F
Potential restricted free agents: Matthew Knies, F; Nicholas Robertson, F; Pontus Holmberg, F
Potential 2025 Draft picks: 6
Here are five reasons the Maple Leafs were eliminated:
1. Home struggles
Winning the Atlantic gave Toronto home-ice advantage, and it looked to be using that to its favor when it won the first two games against Florida.
But it couldn’t have gotten much worse from there.
The Maple Leafs would have won the series had they held serve in Games 5 and 7; instead, they lost 6-1 each time, lacking energy and effort to the point that disgruntled fans chucked jerseys onto the ice in disgust.
2. Game 7 blues
Sunday was Toronto’s seventh consecutive loss in a Game 7 since 2004, including six with forwards Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and defenseman Morgan Rielly in the lineup. Collectively, that group is 2-9 in playoff series since they started playing together in 2016.
But the loss to the Panthers was their most lopsided; the 6-1 setback tied the NHL record for largest margin (five goals) in a Game 7.
Of note: In those six Game 7s in which they’ve played, Matthews and Marner have combined for zero goals. Matthews has a total of three assists in those games. Marner has two.
3. Offense goes cold
Sure, Florida goalie Sergei Bobrovsky was great as usual, especially down the stretch. But the simple fact remains -- Toronto scored just four goals in the final four games of the series.
Matthews and Marner struggled in particular. During the regular season, they combined for 60 goals; in the second round, they had one each. Both of those were game-winners, but they were the only times each of the Toronto stars scored in the entire series. Matthews has just one goal in 12 career playoff games against the Panthers.
4. So close, yet so far
Having won the first two games in Toronto, the Maple Leafs raced to a 2-0 lead within the first 10 minutes of Game 3 in Florida. But they couldn’t protect it and ended up going to overtime tied 4-4 in one of the wildest games you’ll ever see.
They had a great chance to win it in overtime when Knies broke in all alone down the right wing, only to have Bobrovsky make a pad save. Minutes later, Panthers forward Brad Marchand scored the winner when his shot deflected off Rielly and blooped over goalie Joseph Woll into the net. It gave Florida a dramatic 5-4 victory and a huge change in mojo for the series.
Had Knies scored, Toronto would have held a 3-0 series lead. Only the 1942 Maple Leafs, 1975 New York Islanders, 2010 Philadelphia Flyers and 2014 Los Angeles Kings have ever come back from such a deficit, meaning it would have been a daunting task for the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers.
5. Swarmed under
When it mattered most in the series, Florida smothered Toronto with its forecheck, causing the Maple Leafs to turn over pucks in their own end ad nauseam.
The result -- the Maple Leafs ended up being hemmed in their own end for extended periods of time, often leading to scoring chances for the Panthers while exhausted defenders were gasping for air.
The beginning of Game 7 was a prime example. Through the first five minutes, the shot attempts favored Florida 21-0. No, that is not a misprint. It was 21-0.
From a Maple Leafs standpoint, it’s hard to win games when you’re being dominated like that.
