Unfulfilled expectations.
That is the current legacy of the Toronto Maple Leafs after they lost 5-1 in Game 7 Tuesday night in Boston.
For three years running, the Leafs have enjoyed a very successful regular season only to follow it up with a tremendously disappointing opening round playoff exit.
It’s not only 15 years and counting that this franchise hasn’t reached the second round of the post-season. More importantly, it is 52 years and counting since Toronto last won the Stanley Cup.
With top teams like Tampa Bay, Calgary, Nashville and Pittsburgh having already been eliminated, you couldn’t help but think that this could have been the perfect year to make a run at the cup.
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This series could have gone either way, but there is plenty of blame to go around for Toronto’s latest playoff failure.
Why didn’t head coach Mike Babcock play the heck out of star players Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner as opposed to continuing to roll his four lines?
Goalie Frederik Anderson played incredibly well in the first six games of the series but had another Game 7 dud in Toronto’s net. He’s now 0-4 in game 7’s with a 4.16 goals against average and an .856 save percentage.
The Leafs’ once productive power-play unit couldn’t get the job done when it counted most and their penalty kill was downright dreadful against the Bruins.
Aside from all those factors, the Maple Leafs have some serious questions to answer this off-season.
Can this team be successful in the playoffs with its current roster? On that note, how will GM Kyle Dubas manage the roster with the salary cap pressures Toronto will have this summer with Marner, Kasperi Kapanen, Andreas Johnsson and Jake Gardiner all set to become free agents? And is Babcock the man to lead this group to the next level?
Only time will help answer some, if not all, of these questions. But for the time being, Leafs fans are again left with a bitter taste in their mouth.