TORONTO — It is an undeniable, harsh reality.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are 1-13 in their past 14 games when a win would have eliminated their opponent in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And their star-studded, homegrown core has been there for a number of those fumbles.
Forwards Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander, and defenseman Morgan Rielly were there in 2018, when Toronto lost in Game 7 to the Boston Bruins. They were there in 2019, when Toronto lost again to Boston, this time losing Games 6 and 7. They were there when the Montreal Canadiens pulled off a 3-1 series comeback in 2021. They were there to watch the Tampa Bay Lightning stave off elimination twice in 2022, ultimately losing Game 7 in Toronto. And they were there for a third Game 7 loss at the hands of the Bruins in six years in 2024.
Now, five games into their Eastern Conference First Round series with the Ottawa Senators, Toronto has failed twice to put its division rival away, making Game 6 at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; CBC, SN, TVAS, TBS, MAX) loom large.
“[We’re] fine,” Marner said following a 4-0 loss to the Senators in Game 5 on Tuesday. “It’s not supposed to be easy. This is never supposed to be easy. We knew it was going to be a challenge, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy. They pushed back the last two games. We’ve got to go into a building and play our best game. We’ve been a good road team all year. So, we have confidence in this group.”
The Maple Leafs rode a hot power play to a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series with their five-forward first unit of Matthews, Nylander, Marner, Matthew Knies and John Tavares responsible for all five of their goals on the man-advantage through three games.
But the well has dried up. Toronto’s power play was 0-for-4 and allowed a short-handed goal in a 4-3 overtime loss in Game 4 on Saturday, and it was 0-for-3 and allowed another short-handed goal in a 4-0 loss in Game 5.
“We’re kind of forcing some stuff,” Matthews said. “I just think we’ve just got to get back to simplicity and outnumbering guys to the net, getting some pucks through and going from there.”
Still, the Maple Leafs are scoreless in their past 30 attempts on the power play in their 1-13 skid in potential series-clinching games.
“I don’t know,” Marner said of what is wrong with the power play. “We’ll look at what we can do better and figure it out.”
After Game 1, it was Senators coach Travis Green who fended off a question from a reporter about “the elephant in the room,” in reference to goalie Linus Ullmark’s uninspiring, 18-save performance in a 6-2 loss. Green dismissed the insinuation and praised his former Vezina-winning netminder.
On Thursday, Ullmark made 29 saves for his first postseason shutout.
Moments after Game 5, it was Toronto coach Craig Berube’s turn to address his own proverbial pachyderm.
“I’m not feeling anything,” Berube said of the demeanor of his core, which has dealt with so much playoff heartbreak over the years. “I think our group tonight was focused and ready to go. I liked our start of the game. I thought our first period was good. So, I don’t sense that at all. We’re up 3-2 in the series.
“Stick with it. … It’s playoff hockey; there’s a lot of ups and downs. We need composure, I talked about it. We’ve got to stay composed and stay poised. And like I said, we’ll figure out some things and be better next game. That’s what it’s about. We’re up 3-2 in the series. So, we’re confident.”
If a reset ahead of Game 5 was necessary for Toronto, a full-fledged memory flush is in order before Game 6.
“We’re up 3-2 in the series, so we’re fine,” Maple Leafs defenseman Chris Tanev said. “We’re going to prepare for our game Thursday and we’ll make the adjustments that we need to.”
Said Matthews: “We’re not looking in the rearview mirror. It’s about the next day, the next game. Like I said, we’ve been a good road team all season long. We’re a confident group in here. We’ve got to put this one behind us, learn from it. We’re in a good spot here and we just want to go in there and be a focused group. We’re going to be ready to go and we’ll go from there.”
