End of an era: Leafs core is out of chances after latest Game 7 collapse

Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Maple Leafs cared not for old narratives in Game 7.

For 51 minutes.

The Leafs, returning to TD Garden, the scene of their Game 7 horror shows in 2013, 2018, 2019, opened Saturday’s winner-take all affair looking little like the petrified groups that shrunk from the moment in those prior crushing defeats to the Boston Bruins. Toronto had every reason to curl up in the fetal position when, just as superstar Auston Matthews drew back into the lineup after missing Games 5 and 6, it was confirmed series-changing goaltender Joseph Woll could not play, having suffered an injury during his triumphant Game 6. The Leafs could’ve lamented their cursed luck, having played Games 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 minus one of William Nylander and Matthews. But their body language and effort showed no sign of “Here we go again.”

For 51 minutes.

The Bruins, meanwhile, entered Game 7 under serious pressure of their own, having gone 0-5 over the past two postseasons when trying to clinch a series, with coach Jim Montgomery calling out superstar David Pastrnak for his lack of production after Game 6. A loss would make Boston the first team in NHL, NBA or MLB history to blow a 3-1 series lead in two consecutive postseasons. But they opened Game 7 energetically, showing their most confidence and aggression since Game 4, outchancing the Leafs in the first period.

So what happens when both teams give no quarter and behave at every turn like they equally deserve to take Game 7? A war of attrition.

For 51 minutes.

For so much of Saturday’s tense, tight contest, goaltending was the story. Ilya Samsonov, who had an .883 save percentage in the first three games and two periods of the series before getting hooked for Woll, was tested early and often as the Bruins generated quality looks. While he’ll never display the calm body language of Woll, Samsonov showed impeccable rebound control early on. The Bruins’ Jeremy Swayman was even better. He turned away Game 6 hero Nylander on a point-blank chance late in the first period and stopped a partial shorthanded breakaway from Connor Dewar in the second.

Game 7s didn’t get any closer for those first two periods. The scoring chances were 10-7 Boston in the first period, 9-6 Toronto in the second, 16-16 after 40 minutes, the game scoreless.

The deadlock broke 11 minutes into the third period when Tyler Bertuzzi stripped blueliner Brandon Carlo in the Bruins zone and fed Matthews. He used the threat of his shot to draw Hampus Lindholm and set up, who else, Nylander for the go-ahead goal.

Everything changed for Toronto in that moment – for the worse.

The team that suddenly had something to lose played like it. The lead lasted all of 81 seconds before Lindholm squeezed a wrister through Samsonov’s short side to knot the game 1-1. The goal was a microcosm of Samsonov’s career. He made so many big saves all night but didn’t make the save.

With that, the Leafs had blown a lead over the Bruins in the third period of a Game 7 for the third time in the past four series against them. Suddenly, Toronto reverted to the scared team of those previous defeats. They closed their eyes and pretty much prayed away the remainder of the third period.

In overtime, it took not even two minutes to birth another chapter in Toronto heartbreak lore. A long-distance shoot-in from Lindholm, which appeared to be a set play, caromed right to Pastrnak. Whether it was Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly’s fault for not pursuing hard enough, or Samsonov’s fault for not coming out to challenge Pastrnak – every player wearing blue and white was frozen, helplessly watching Pastrnak deke out Samsonov for the series-clinching goal.

In an instant, all the fighting back, the inspired play, the physicality, the revelatory efforts of Woll and Matthew Knies in the series…poof, gone. In the end, the Leafs’ Game 7 will be filed as an NHL record fifth-consecutive one-goal performance in an elimination game. The NHL’s second-highest scoring team managed 12 goals in seven games with a power play converting at south of five percent. No amount of horrible injury luck, which will be revealed in greater detail in the coming days, can explain Toronto’s inability to break through.

“[The Bruins are] a very structured team, they do a very good job through the neutral zone, and they protect their net as well or better than most every team in the NHL,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe told reporters after Game 7. “And they were content to do that. It’s very evident that when teams play the Leafs, they set up the game for the Leafs to beat themselves.”

Fittingly, Keefe referred to his team in the third person as it prepares to shift on its axis. Whether it’s Keefe, disappearing act Mitch Marner, even president Brendan Shanahan – few members of this team can accurately forecast their future. Any runway is long gone.

“It sucks, to be honest,” Nylander told reporters. “We were really close. And we battled back in the series. I don’t know what to say. It’s a really empty feeling right now.”

Eight playoff runs since 2016-17. One series win. An 0-6 record in winner-take-all games. Forget keeping the core together. The Leafs as we know them are out of chances.

It’s over.

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End of an era: Leafs core is out of chances after latest Game 7 collapse

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