Like a scent of fatality

TORONTO – Teams coming from behind to make up for a 1-3 deficit in a series have been seen relatively often in the history of the NHL. Thirty-one times to be precise.

The Toronto Maple Leafs themselves – who would have thought – have already achieved this. It’s been a good 82 years, Syl Apps and Turk Broda, according to rumors, are retired, but nevertheless if the current edition wants to draw inspiration from the team’s not always glorious past, it has an example .

Simply, that’s not the impression these Maple Leafs give off. They seem closer to despondency, to the slaughterhouse itself, than on the verge of an epic comeback. Nothing is impossible, mind you.

The Leafs lost 3-1 to the Bruins on Saturday night, a second defeat in a row at home, and now they are on the verge of elimination After four short games this spring. While they needed their best performance to turn things around, coach Sheldon Keefe admitted it came down to of [leur] worst game offensively.

The Bruins’ strategy, which consists of closing the neutral zone, forcing Toronto to shoot on the periphery – the players blocked 26 shots, one more than their goalies – and patiently biding their time by creating turnovers thanks to a forecheck which has caused the Leafs problems all year, so this strategy worked to perfection on Saturday.

Toronto prides itself on limiting the Bruins’ scoring chances, but cannot generate enough to beat goaltender Jeremy Swayman, who is particularly efficient. For a team built essentially on attack, this is an admission of failure.

We can open the game, but there is no chance that they will. We have to stick to our game plan, suggested Keefe after the meeting. While Toronto thinks about playing chess, Boston is playing cat and mouse.

There are all kinds of extenuating circumstances for the Leafs.

Auston Matthews has been out of sorts since the team returned to Toronto. He has been ill for a few days and team doctors removed him from the game after the second period. Mitch Marner has first and foremost the task of slowing down David Pastrnak at even strength and it must be admitted that, overall, his trio succeeded. William Nylander isn’t in top form either. John Tavares, like all of us, is getting older.

But Leafs fans can’t take any more excuses.

This group has made it past the first round of the playoffs just once in the last seven seasons – only to nimbly lose in the second – and is supposed to be mature, supposed to be ready to win, to demonstrate that it has learned its lessons of his repeated failures and his bitter disappointments.

The team carries them more like a burden. It is no longer a learning process, it is an endless Stations of the Cross.

At the end of the second period, the spectators made their discontent heard and booed their favorites copiously. After 40 minutes, in such a crucial game, the Leafs had four scoring chances in all situations and lost by three goals.

Even the DJ got in on the action and belted out questionable hits from Imagine Dragons and David Guetta that implored the locals to do whatever it takes to win no matter what it takes by reminding them that they did not nothing to lose.

And yet, it would be quite the opposite.

Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), owner of the Maple Leafs, has a new president and CEO in office. Keith Pelley, according to Toronto colleagues, would not intend to show great leniency in the event of a hasty elimination. It was described to us as an open secret around here.

This means that if the Leafs cannot overthrow the Bruins, it should not be surprising that there are significant changes. The 2024 edition of the men in blue and white therefore has something to lose.

Frustration and dedication

A sequence circulated widely on social networks at the end of the second period. We see Mitch Marner and William Nylander particularly dissatisfied with the turn of events. The second threw some colorful words at the first and it was not to invite him to supper in Boston.

Start of the Twitter widget. Skip the widget?End of Twitter widget. Return to start of widget?

As expected, both downplayed the significance of the altercation.

There is no [frustration]. We are big boys. We were talking about a game. We don’t yell at each other because we hate each other, but because we want to be on the same wavelength.

We expect a lot from each other, we love each other and we push each otheradded William Nylander, a little smile on his lips.

Maybe we shouldn’t make a big deal out of it. It’s rarely a good sign when a team’s stars start pointing fingers at each other, but these kinds of moments sometimes also serve as catharsis. We evacuate, we start fresh.

Except Morgan Rielly dropped this intriguing comment.

There’s no point in being too frustrated unless it leads to a better work ethicsaid the defender.

He will mention work ethic on two other occasions in his answers without anyone having brought him to this point. Is there something rotten in the Kingdom of Denmark as William said, not Nylander, rather Shakespeare?

The Maple Leafs are still alive. They deserve another chance. A last. As mentioned above, on 31 occasions a team has managed to win a series after being down 3-1. It’s possible.

On Saturday, they didn’t seem to believe it. They still have the opportunity to prove otherwise.