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The Maple Leafs have only themselves to blame

The Toronto Maple Leafs can only blame themselves for losing on Monday. Why does this keep happening?
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Another year has come and (sadly) gone for the Toronto Maple Leafs, with their season prematurely ending - yet again. Unfortunately, just like the last few, not only is there no cup, but there's no first-round victory either.

The Leafs headed into Monday’s game 7 with the hope of moving on to the next round, but they, unfortunately, did not advance past their hated rivals: the Montreal Canadiens. So this year, the Leafs only have one thing to blame about the outcome of this series. Themselves.

The Leafs had an outstanding regular season. They finished as the top team in the Canadian Division with 35 wins, 14 losses and 7 overtime/shootout losses. However, the top story of the season was the emergence of the Leafs' top two players in Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.

After years of playing on different lines under former coach Mike Babcock, coach Sheldon Keefe finally put these two players together, and they played like Sittler and MacDonald in the 70s. Matthews this year won the Rocket Richard trophy for most goals in a season (41), and most of those goals were either primary or secondary assists from Mitch Marner, finishing the season with 67 points - that's in the top five of all NHL scoring. 

Why am I bringing up all these players, you ask? They contribute to the main reason the Leafs did not beat the Montreal Canadiens. The Leafs stars did not show up in this series and were not key factors.

Scott Gummerson/Unsplash
Scott Gummerson/Unsplash

Auston Matthews had just one goal in the playoffs after scoring 41 in the regular season. Not only did he score 41 goals, but he scored 7 goals and 7 assists for 14 points in the Leafs' ten games against the Montreal Canadiens this regular season. There is no excuse for someone of his skill set and abilities making $11.64 million per year only to score one goal in seven games. 

A big part of Matthews' game is his relationship and chemistry with linemate Mitch Marner, whose playoff performance was terrible. Marner didn’t score a single goal and had only four assists in seven games. This performance is unacceptable from someone of his calibre, someone near the league lead in scoring this season.

Matthews and Marner's inability to generate any offence was the sole reason this team could not win the series and could not take the next step that fans have been begging for. 

Players like Marner and Matthews are supposed to set the example and standard for what this team has to live up to, including what should be expected of the Toronto Maple Leafs - a team with one of the most illustrious hockey histories. However, when your top players are not performing well and not generating any offence, you are setting your team up for failure.

I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what this team needs to do to take that next step to win their first playoff series since 2004, and I don’t have an answer. Teams always go through rough times in the playoffs trying to make their way in the NHL, but the Leafs are too old and too good to still be in this position. 

This team had the best regular season that fans could have hoped for, but once the seed of doubt was planted in the overtime game 5 loss, they cracked under pressure. Good teams are strong enough to make the playoffs, but great teams can overcome the inevitable adversity that comes their way.

So the clear answer to this question is that the Leafs need to find success within themselves, and the only way that the team can be successful is in that dressing room. I'm not the only person in Oakville (or GTA, for that matter) who is frustrated, heartbroken and sad from watching their consistent failure.

With all this time and love into cheering for a sports franchise as important as the Maple Leafs is to us in town, it feels horrible to see the team crack after building our confidence in their abilities. When they betray that trust year after year, it feels even more empty.

No one can come and save them. It is all on the Leafs' roster to make this right.