The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t exactly gotten us used to long springs since 1967, and that’s why it feels a bit like we’re watching the same movie again right now.
We know the scenario very well: the Leafs have a good season, they make it to the playoffs, and then suddenly, everything collapses.
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The Boston Bruins won by a score of 4-2 on Wednesday night and now have a 2-1 lead in this first round series in the Eastern Conference. Is it finished? Of course not. If we had time to spare, we could probably find hundreds and hundreds of clubs that have already come back from a 1-2 deficit in a series.
PHOTO JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI, USA TODAY SPORTS
Goaltenders Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark celebrate the Bruins’ victory at the end of the game.
But this is about the Leafs, and like an AC/DC album, the Leafs are predictable. That’s why the camera showed us so many worried faces on screen at the end of the night. Because these people, resigned, know very well how it will end.
If we had to sum it all up in a single play, it would undoubtedly be this punishment that captain John Tavares received in the offensive zone, at the end of the match, while his club was looking for the equalizing goal.
Tavares was undoubtedly right to complain about the inconsistency of the referees – Brad Marchand did something similar without being punished before scoring the fourth goal into an empty net – but this image of a disconcerted captain on the bench Punishments were worth a thousand words, or a thousand pains, for those who support Toronto.
Meanwhile, William Nylander is still not around and hasn’t appeared once in the series. The nastiest will point out that Mitch Marner isn’t there either, having only collected a modest assist since the start of this series.
PHOTO JOHN E. SOKOLOWSKI, USA TODAY SPORTS
Trent Frederic (11) scored in the second period.
And then, while we’re at it, let’s remember that the Leafs’ five-man attack, which sends approximately $45 million on the ice at every opportunity, has scored only once in 11 tries since the start of this series. Wednesday night was a big 0 for 5. Not ideal.
We will obviously give the proverbial credit to the club opposite, and in particular to goalkeeper Jeremy Swayman, who made 28 saves, often big ones, and who should not return to a stool for the rest of the series. Marchand, who everyone likes to hate, continues to be the modern version of Claude Lemieux by responding when it counts, with a three-point evening, including two goals.
Game 4 of the series is Saturday night in Toronto, and we’re already wondering who can save this team from another inevitable end. Auston Matthews? Tavares, who has things to be forgiven for? Marner, who is going to have to do much more than that? Nylander, who should perhaps ignore the pain (he is rumored to be injured) and take an example from Bob Gainey, who already played despite two dislocated shoulders?
Someone’s going to have to stand up in this, because otherwise, for the Leafs, this spring is going to end like the other one before, and the other one before that, and the other one before that , And so on.