TORONTO — Eight years and nine playoff series into their shared tenure as saviors of the Maple Leafs, three of the best individual performers in franchise history were reduced to sniping at one another on the bench after bumbling through an ineffective shift together.
William Nylander appeared to direct pointed criticism at Mitch Marner. Auston Matthews looked to have some words for his teammate(s), too. Marner turned and tossed each of his gloves to the ground in frustration.
This was a make-or-break game, yet another night where they were trying to shed the weight of their past, and the Leafs instead came apart at the seams in front of national television audiences on both sides of the border and a sellout crowd at Scotiabank Arena that started off supportive and ended up sneering.
Barring an unlikely and unexpected comeback down 3-1 in a first-round series to the Boston Bruins, this was the end of the Maple Leafs as we knew them.
There is no conceivable way to run this back.
It hasn’t worked, and isn’t working.
Frustration has started to set in for the Maple Leafs stars 😠 pic.twitter.com/PbnQBNigKD
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 28, 2024
The Leafs have dug a sizable hole against the Bruins in such a familiar fashion that any casual onlooker could basically recite the lyrics from memory. They’re making more mistakes at 5-on-5, they’re soundly losing the special-teams battle and they’ve transformed from being one of the NHL’s best offensive teams in the regular season to one that can’t score more than two goals per night in the playoffs.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
What we haven’t seen previously is anything like Saturday’s Game 4 sniping session on the bench in the later stages of the second period, when all of the swirling emotions and frustrations bubbled to the surface.
“A lot of guys have been here for a while,” said captain John Tavares, before characterizing it as an example of how his teammates continue to push each other.
“You know what, that’s just the way we are,” Nylander said. “I mean we expect a lot from each other, and we love each other.”
“I don’t think there’s any (frustration),” Marner added. “We’re grown men. We were talking about plays out there that we just want to make sure we’re all 100 percent on and know what we’re doing.
“We’re not yelling at each other because we hate each other.”
At this stage, it really isn’t about love or hate.
It’s about finding some semblance of on-ice cohesion and purpose to produce positive results under challenging playoff conditions. It’s about playing at a level commensurate with the talent in the lineup.
With another season slipping away, it is difficult not to view these Leafs as a fundamentally selfish team — a term used by multiple people close to the group in the wake of Saturday’s 3-1 loss. Rather than leaning on their past experiences and banding together to find a way through a tough time, they’ve seemingly splintered.
The bottom fell out quickly with losses in seven of the last eight games dating back to the final stretch of the regular season. It saw them play the first three games of this series without Nylander, who was kept from the lineup for unexplained reasons despite skating multiple times earlier in the week, before seeing Matthews removed from Saturday’s game during the second intermission.
“It’s all related to the illness he’s been dealing with,” said Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe. “He’s been giving us everything that he has here. Ultimately, the doctors pulled him.”
The sixth straight playoff loss on home ice looked and felt like rock bottom for this group.
They were booed off the ice at the end of a second period in which they fell behind the Bruins 3-0 and failed to convert on a 4-on-3 power play featuring the Core Four: Matthews, Marner, Nylander and Tavares.
“You can’t blame them,” Tavares said, when asked about how the fans reacted.
Anyone looking for a cogent explanation for how they again found themselves in this situation was left wanting after the final buzzer.
Four of the team’s leaders were trotted out to speak with reporters in the dressing room and they each remained calm in the face of some pointed questions. But it didn’t really feel like anyone got to the heart of the matter.
“There’s no point in being too frustrated unless it’s going to lead to work ethic,” said defenseman Morgan Rielly. “Obviously we’re trying to win a game, and we’re down, so there’s going to be emotion. Guys are competitive. We’re out there trying to win. When it’s not going your way, it can be challenging, but if you’re going to get frustrated, it just has to lead to motivation and work ethic.”
Keefe is prone to showing emotion at the postgame podium but was measured in his assessment of a disappointing Game 4 performance.
“You can question a lot of things; you can’t question the effort,” he said.
While some will no doubt take issue with that assertion, there really isn’t any evidence that suggests this Leafs team doesn’t have individuals with a desire to win.
They’ve just given us no reason to believe they’re collectively up to the task of actually doing it.
(Photo: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)
