Maple Leafs' Groundhog Day Continues Yet Again

The Toronto Maple Leafs' playoff story ends the same way once again.

Toronto Maple Leafs forward Auston Matthews and Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky shake hands. / John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, then the Toronto Maple Leafs should've been institutionalized long ago.

The Maple Leafs were eliminated from the playoffs on Sunday night with a 6-1 loss to the Florida Panthers in yet another Game 7. This is the eighth straight winner-take-all game that the Leafs have lost, seven of which took place in the past right years. If one assumes that they had a 50 percent chance of winning each of those games (which isn't the case, but just using it for the sake of simplicity), then the statistical chance of them losing seven such games in a row is 0.39 percent.

For a bit, though, it seemed like this year might actually be different. The Leafs not only took a 2-0 series lead, but they led 3-1 early in the second period of Game 3 and seemed poised to take a 3-0 lead over the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Unfortunately, it all went downhill from there. Florida came back to win Game 3 5-4 on a Brad Marchand overtime goal, shut out Toronto 2-0 in Game 4, then dominated Game 5 6-1 on the road. The Leafs showed some signs of life in a 2-0 road win in Game 6, but the same old story played out once again in Game 7.

How bad was Game 7? The Panthers had the first 21 shot attempts of the game, showing how much their forecheck suffocated the Leafs not just in that game, but throughout the entire series.

In another continuation of a recurring trend, Toronto's stars failed to show up in the biggest moments. Over the final four games of the series, the Leafs' "core four" — Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares — scored just two points. Even then, those two points came when Marner assisted Matthews on the first goal of Game 6.

The Leafs have put off making big changes for years, but now there's no excuse. Marner and Tavares are both set to become unrestricted free agents on July 1, and while the latter could return if he takes a hometown discount, the former is almost certainly gone. Additionally, Toronto could even entertain trade offers for key players like Morgan Rielly, who's 31 and set to make $7.5 million per year until 2030.

Whatever the case, the Maple Leafs cannot run it back with this core yet again, not after this latest failure.

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