A year ago today, John Tavares scored at 4:36 of the first overtime period to win game six against the Tampa Bay Lightning and send the Leafs to the second round for the first time in 19 years.
That goal was supposed to be the goal to exorcize our demons. The goal that made us forget about five game-seven losses in ten years. The goal that put behind us the eras of Ron Wilson, Randy Carlyle, and Mike Babcock. The goal that wiped away all of the misery and pain Leaf fans had experienced over the last two decades. It was supposed to be the goal that saved us. Twelve months on, that night could not feel farther away. In retrospect, that moment, that night, it barely even feels real.
Toronto’s performance in game four on Saturday night was among the most soul-sucking I’ve watched over my 23 years of fandom, right up there with game three against Florida last year. Sheldon Keefe said you cannot question his team’s effort, and overall, I agree with him. I don’t like questioning the work ethic of professional athletes.
However, I think there’s a difference between not trying and not having any juice, and the Leafs had negative juice in game four. It’s difficult to comprehend how the team could come out so flat in their biggest game of the season. The Leafs looked like they were playing through a cloud of fog, while the Bruins had nothing but clear air in front of them.
Everything that Keefe’s teams have struggled with in the playoffs since he’s been here reared its ugly head again in game four: special teams units that look like they have no idea what they are doing, an inability to consistently get clean zone entries, stupid penalties, and an all-around lack of adjustments or change in playing style. Nothing worked, and nothing has changed. If the Leafs do lose tomorrow, the biggest reason Sheldon Keefe should be fired this summer isn’t because he’s lost five of six playoff series. It is because all the losses have looked the same.
Of course, the players deserve their share of the blame as well. Mitch Marner was unwatchably bad for the first two periods and has struggled throughout the series. John Tavares is slowly turning into one of the old guys at Shinny who thinks he can keep up with the young bucks, but instead, it is just depressing to watch him try. Almost all of the team’s blueliners treat the puck as a grenade whenever it touches their sticks, and the bottom six have scored one goal in four games.
Oh, and if you needed any more reason to think that this team is cursed, the Auston Matthews and William Nylander situations can go straight to the top of your list.
Seemingly, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong.
However, despite all that I’ve just said and all the postmortems you might have already read about this Leaf team, the series is not over. I will not pre-write my eulogy for the death of the “Core Four” era before it happens. There will be plenty of time to do that in the aftermath because, make no mistake if the Leafs lose Tuesday night, there is no decision to be made; this team, as we know it, is done. No move clauses be damned. Leaf fans will not accept another season with this team on the ice and that head coach behind the bench.
For some reason, though, I don’t think this team is done yet. Why can’t these losers in Blue and White win three straight hockey games (pardon the juxtaposition)? They’re certainly talented enough to do so. I will not retract anything I said before the series about Toronto’s advantages in this series. They are the better offensive team, the better five-on-five team, and they have shown that at times in this series.
Boston is a smart, well-coached team, but to think that the main reason the lead they have built in this series is because of anything but an incredible disparity in special teams and differing levels of goaltending would be untruthful.
Boston deserves their lead, but it’s not an insurmountable one. Think back to the Bruins blowing a 3-1 lead to the eighth-seeded Florida Panthers last season or even to 2018 when the Leafs were in a similar spot against Boston and forced a game seven.
There are always turning points that people look back on and say, “That was it. That was the moment everything changed.” after a team has made any sort of miraculous comeback. I’m so delusional I’ve already decided that Toronto’s three best players yelling at each other on the bench was that moment. We’ve never seen that type of public outbursts from Matthews, Marner or Nylander before, holding each other accountable. As much as it’s been made fun of, I loved seeing that.
To me, it was Nylander and Matthews saying to Mitch, let’s wake the fuck up and play. It’s enough now, and that’s it. It’s behind them. They can move on and build off it. Am I clutching at straws? Perhaps. But if the Leafs are going to come back, it will be thanks to three guys driving the bus, and they are the three guys who were yelling at each other. It’s up to them to give their era the ending it deserves.
The last thing I’ll say is that the easiest thing for a team to rally around is a young goalie going on a run. Joseph Woll has all the talent in the world to be that goalie. He was fantastic at the start of the season and looked very good during the one period he played on Saturday night. It is a massive moment for him—game five, facing elimination in Boston. Yet, there is a quiet confidence about Woll that makes me believe—partially evidenced by his performance in game four against the Panthers last season in a similar spot, allowing just one goal on 25 shots to keep the Leafs alive.
I understand how stupid I may seem to many of you. Tomorrow could be an absolute disaster; if it is, so be it. But sports fandom is as irrational as love is, and that’s part of the fun of it. Trust me, if the Buds come out with another terrible performance in game five, I will be at the front of the line screaming for as much change as possible this summer. But until the opposition beats the Blue and White four times in a playoff series, I cannot bring myself to give up on the Maple Leafs. I was incredibly down bad Saturday night, but 48 hours later, I’m ready to witness the start of something special.
Go Leafs Go
The Morning Skate 
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