This is just too funny for me to take seriously anymore. The Toronto Maple Leafs started their highly promising Stanley Cup playoff run with…a 7-3 home loss to the reigning Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lighting.
I would’ve started this article out wondering if this Maple Leafs team will ever learn its lesson, but it’s obvious they haven’t.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have once again embarrassed themselves, their fans, and the city of Toronto as they’ve not only lost their opening home playoff game to the Tampa Bay Lightning, but they’ve also done so in humiliating fashion. You’d think this team would get frustrated with losing over and over again in the playoffs, but I guess they’re gluttons for punishment as they were utterly blown away 7-3.
And they deserved it.
The Maple Leafs had their flattest performances of the entire season yet as they allowed the Lightning Bottom-6 forwards, such as Corey Perry, Patrick Maroon, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare, Colton Ross, and Nick Paul, to bully them in front of the net and fire off second-hand and even third-hand shots on Ilya Samsonov.
That’s how Bellemare scored the opening goal of the game, Anthony Cirelli (who’s actually the 2nd line center) scored Tampa’s second, and it’s how Perry scored Tampa’s 5th on the 5-minute powerplay that really destroyed this game for the Leafs (but I’ll get to that in a second).
GM Kyle Dubas bringing in Luke Schenn (2X SC champion), Jake McCabe, and Erik Gustafsson (who didn’t even play as a healthy scratch) was supposed bulk and toughen up the Maple Leafs defense against such situations from happening, but obviously they’re failing big time.
I’m not going to completely crap on these moves by Dubas, which I didn’t like from the start, as there’s still at least another three games left to play, but I’ll never know why Dubas changed so many parts to this team. There’s a reason why the Maple Leafs earned 2nd place in the Atlantic and home ice advantage (which is now squandered) over the Lightning.
Nevertheless, before I get into the biggest reason why the Leafs team lost this game, let me just praise the Lightening for showing up to play.
The Lightning had every excuse to get run over by a high-flying, energetic, and supposedly hungry Maple Leafs team as TB is an old team (average age: 30), they’ve won two Stanely Cups and lost another in the last three years, they’ve won 9 straight Eastern Conference series (11 of the last 12), these players have made a lot of money (average salary: $3.74M; players with salaries over $2M: 10; players with salaries over $4M: 8), and they’ve been playing really poorly heading into the playoffs (4-6 record in their last 10 regular season games).
I think everyone, including Lightning fans, would have been okay with this team giving a good effort but eventually losing either 4-1 or 4-2 to this Maple Leafs side as they’ve simply nothing left to prove.
Yet, that obviously wasn’t the case inside the Lightning’s locker room as not only did the usual suspects of Steven Stamkos (2 SOG), Braden Point (2 G, 2 SOG), Nikita Kucherov (1 G, 2 A, 3 PTS), Anthony Cirelli (1 G, 1 A, 2 PTS), Mikhail Sergachev (1 A, 3 SOG), and Andrei Vasilevskiy (28 saves, .903 SV%) perform, but the depth forwards and defenders, such as Ross Colton (1 G, 1 A, 2PTS), Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (1 G, 2 SOG), and Ian Cole (1 A, 1 PT), got on the score sheet as well.
And, that’s the hallmark trait of Stanley Cup winners/contenders as every team desperately needs its brightest star players and the most obscure role players to get on the score sheet in same way or another to win tough, meaningful SC games as the Lighting have done these last 6-8 years. That’s why this team is so good.
Now, for the moment everyone’s been waiting for: that Michael Bunting headshot on Erik Cernak.
I’ve got no idea what’s going on in that Leafs locker room as these players have the most fragile, soft, and frankly spineless mentality I’ve ever seen in a “contending” and/or “promising” Stanley Cup team.
That hit, which was a clear headshot and deserving of the 5-minute penalty and game misconduct, is just so stupid to do on Bunting’s behalf as the Leafs not only had a shot of coming back (they were only down 4-2 at the time), but they also were playing really well at that moment.
Sure, they gave up a 4th goal on the penalty kill to go back down by two after Ryan O’Rielly (who was a good pickup by Dubas) and William Nylander’s (who is the clutchest of the Maple Leafs’ “Fantastic 4”) goals gave them a lifeline earlier on in the 2nd period, but they actually had a chance of bucking history and winning this game.
Scotiabank Arena was loud, raucous, and fully backing their home Toronto team, and the Lighnting were getting pinned down in their own end for much of that 2nd period, leaving that glimmer of hope open for this Maple Leafs team to finally grasp. But, just like their epic collapses against the Bruins (three times), Blue Jackets, Canadiens, and Lightening, they blew the opportunity as Michael Bunting lost his cool and gave the 2nd-best PP unit in the regular season a 5-minute window to score.
And, the Lighting obviously took it as Perry and Point scored the Lightning’s 5th and 6th goals, respectively, with less than 2 minutes to play in the period to officially sink any hope of a Maple Leafs comeback.
I just…don’t even know what to say about the Leafs and their mentality anymore.
Whether it’s their superstars shrinking under the spotlight (John Tavares: 1 assist; Morgan Rielly: o points; Michael Bunting: getting kicked out of the game; Auston Matthews: 0 G), their Bottom-6 not stepping up (1 PT between the Bottom-6 forwards) or one of their players getting suspended for stupid, illegal hits (Nazem Kadri vs. Bruins in 2018, Nazem Kadri vs. Bruins in 2019, Kyle Clifford vs. Lightning in 2021, and now Michael Bunting vs. Lightning in 2022), the Leafs are always shooting themselves in the foot.
I will give credit to Mitch Marner, who has shrunken in these games before, for really stepping up and providing assists on all three Maple Leaf goals, but the rest of the team (aside from the players I’ve already pointed out for good reasons) deserve the ruthless criticism they’re not getting. They’re on the verge of bottling an NHL record 7 consecutive First Round playoff series in a row as the Lighting have all the momentum going into Game 2!
Perhaps the introduction of University of Minnesota superstar, Matthew Knies, on the 1st-line in replace of Bunting, who’s going to get suspended for that hit, will give them the spark needed to win a crucial Game 2, but I’m not holding my breath. The Leafs have been in this situation and failed too many times before for me to take them seriously.
As for the Lighting, the series has been pretty much handed to them on a silver platter. All they have to do is keep their calm, play the same style of hockey they did this game, and pray Victor Headman and Erik Cernak, who both left the game with injuries, are able to play.
If all that happens, then this series is going to end in 4 or 5.
Sorry Maple Leaf fans, but this team just doesn’t have the ability to win at the highest level.
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