Maple Leafs no-show in biggest game of this era: ‘We stood around and watched’

TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs have 48 hours to show they’re not who you suppose they’re.

For the center of their dressing room to point out indicators of a pulse.

Sure, it’s a contact too early to jot down the obituary of the 2024-25 version of this group. However the best way the gamers carried out Wednesday night time at Scotiabank Enviornment — standing round and getting steamrolled 6-1 in Recreation 5 by a Florida Panthers squad that solely appears to be gaining confidence — tough drafts will likely be permitted.

Right here lies a sluggish begin. We’re saddened to announce a collection of egregious errors by star gamers. It’s with a heavy coronary heart that we report an avalanche of 9 consecutive unanswered objectives by the champions, piled on prime of the battered and bewildered Leafs like shovelfuls of dust on the grave.

The Maple Leafs walked into a very powerful residence playoff sport of the franchise’s previous 23 years and gave the kind of effort that might set off eye rolls and talk-radio rants had it occurred on a sleepy November Tuesday in Columbus.

And but, with the sample this period’s core has proven over what’s now 9 run-it-back springs, perhaps this was nothing greater than a scheduled loss in any case.

Definitely, the Leafs loyalists, who devoured up each final ticket to Recreation 5 and arrived extra giddy than nervous, weren’t hurling boos by Interval 2 and glumly submitting out the exits with 13-plus minutes in regulation as a result of this was an anomaly.

“I don’t think we gave them much reason to stick around,” mentioned Auston Matthews, minutes after a No. 34 Justin Bieber–designed uniform was tossed onto the ice in disgust.

Matthews was solely talking about Wednesday’s quiet-then-angry-then-absent crowd. However the captain of this itemizing ship may simply as simply be referring to a historical past of blown collection leads, of prime alternatives squandered, and of a tortured fan base that has proven a lot extra resilience than the heroes that put on their favorite laundry.

Did it cross pending free agent Mitch Marner’s thoughts that this might presumably be his remaining residence sport in Toronto, his final time suiting up and attempting to do proper by the group he cherished as a boy?

“No. No thoughts of that at all,” mentioned Marner, attempting to reset his thoughts and physique for Recreation 6. “Go home, flush it down the toilet.”

Which is the suitable place to deposit a efficiency this foul.

Matthews, who had beforehand had the crutch of his sturdy defensive work to lean on, turned over the puck deep in his personal zone on Florida’s opening strike.

Marner tried a blind, spinning, cross-ice, backhand cross at his personal blueline that landed smack on Gustav Forsling’s tape and was in Joseph Woll’s internet two passes later.

“Sloppy play. Not hard enough working. Giving away too many opportunities around our net. There’s a good list of it,” Marner mentioned. “I don’t think anyone’s happy about it.”

Solely the skilled Panthers — who’re flying residence smelling blood, recognizing the slumped shoulders, and seeing the rewards of inflicting their punishing, predictable model of hockey on a group that reached the uncharted territory of six playoff wins and commenced to crack.

“I don’t think they came any harder than they have. I think we let them come tonight. We stood around and watched,” Leafs coach Craig Berube lamented.

“They outskated us, really. They had the puck, won the races. Like, we just played slow. They were fast. They were on us. They were hungrier. That’s the first period — and that sets the tone.”

The tone within the Toronto room post-loss was one among remorse blended with an try to talk confidence into existence. Hey, they’ve been good on the highway. And so they’ve by no means misplaced 4 in a row all season.

“They owned us today,” William Nylander mentioned. “We gotta try to get back at them in Florida.”

Give them a DeLorean, and the Maple Leafs 1.21-gigawatts their approach again to Recreation 3, once they held leads of 2-0 and 3-1, then let their opponent off the mat.

That night time, at his post-game podium, eternally nemesis Brad Marchand praised-slash-trolled the Maple Leafs for creating a “killer instinct.”

In hindsight, the eldest participant on this divisional tilt was extra honest after Recreation 2 in Toronto.

“These series can change on a dime,” a prophetic Marchand warned the final time the Cats walked out of Scotiabank Enviornment. The champs had been down 2-0.

That was solely every week in the past. Seems like a month.

“We just fed into what makes them successful. Thought they won the net fronts tonight. You know, I thought they competed harder and won more puck battles,” Matthews mentioned.

“I don’t really think there’s any excuse or explanation. The only thing we can do is regroup and reset, go out, and we got to win a game to keep our season alive.”

Twenty-four totally different gamers have scored on this collection.

Matthews isn’t one among them.

He’s had 10 video games now to place a puck previous Sergei Bobrovsky in a playoff sport and has come up empty.

“I don’t look at myself as, like, a one-dimensional player. If I’m not scoring, I’m trying to do all the other little things that make the team successful, that make myself successful, and just try to be an all-around complete player,” Matthews mentioned.

“So, I’m going to continue to push and try to score, obviously, and keep shooting. But all the other little details of my game, I want to do at a high level as well.”

Berube is aware of Matthews and Marner’s stage was low Wednesday, however he’s not going to begin criticizing his stars individually now.

“I’m not gonna look at a certain group of players. It’s everybody, myself included. There’s mistakes, a lot of mistakes. And mistakes happen in games, but it’s the way they happened tonight that’s disappointing more than anything,” Berube mentioned. “(The highest line) has achieved job up till tonight in opposition to that (Aleksander Barkov) line, and that is a part of their job.

“Tonight wasn’t a good game for anybody. Anybody. All of us.”

Not when Joseph Woll will get mercy-pulled in entrance of a half-empty barn within the third interval and Matt Murray makes his first playoff motion in 1,743 days.

And never when the strongest declaration of possession of Wednesday’s debacle comes from one of many humble function gamers affixed late to make this core really feel totally different.

“I’ll take responsibility,” straight-shooting defenceman Chris Tanev mentioned. “I need to be better. So, if I’m a minus player, probably not gonna win the game. It’s on me. I’ll take responsibility for the game.”

What can the Maple Leafs do, then, within the subsequent 48 hours to make us crumple our obituaries? To offer Marner one other residence sport in Toronto? To offer all these annoyed followers one other morsel of hope?

“Play better,” Tanev mentioned.

• With Toronto right down to its remaining life, can we see Anthony Stolarz in Recreation 6?

Woll is actually not the problem right here. He was given actually zero run assist in his final six-plus intervals. But it surely’s a query value asking now that the Leafs are observing elimination.

• The Panthers are drawing on very current expertise throughout this claw-back.

No, they’ve by no means rallied from a 2-0 collection deficit. However they did path the New York Rangers 2-1 within the Japanese Convention Remaining earlier than successful Recreation 4 at residence, Recreation 5 on the highway, then wrapping the collection in Recreation 6 at residence final spring.

“This is where we’re supposed be,” coach Paul Maurice mentioned calmly pre-game. “The setup is exactly the Ranger game. We were down in the series, came back, went into New York. It’s harnessing that excitement about it. That’s kind of how we’re moving around each other today.”

• What would Maurice say if somebody instructed him that they’d maintain Matthews with out a aim heading into Recreation 5?

“What’s the series at?” the coach replied.

“Doesn’t f—— matter. Jonah Gadjovich scored that goal (in Game 3). We didn’t take it from him and give it to Barkov. Nobody cares.”

Apart from Leafs followers who’ve seen 24 gamers not named Matthews discover the again of the web on this collection.

• Nick Robertson scored (once more!) popping out of the press field. A pleasant one, too. Albeit in rubbish time. The legend continues…

• Max Domi has taken six pointless penalties in 5 video games. Quibble with a few the calls if you happen to like, however that’s too many.

Can the Leafs proceed to decorate Domi on this collection?

“It’s definitely an issue we’ve got to talk about and discuss and figure out what we’re going to do there,” Berube mentioned.