But here’s the reality: If Maple Leafs stumbles again in the early stages of the postseason, one of the greatest regular seasons in their nearly 105-year history, for the individual players and the team itself, will be a difficult mood.
“All the recognition comes when the team is doing well. For example, you get individual awards and other things in the regular season and that’s great. But when it comes to the playoffs, those things don’t matter much,” said defender Jake Mouzin with an understanding smile.
“It’s really a new season and we need to start breaking records [the] playoffs I guess, so to speak. So take it day after day, get ready for game 1 and get out of there. “
After finishing their regular season against the Boston Bruins on Friday, the Maple Leafs will play Game 1 of the First Round of the Eastern Conference at home after winning second place in the Atlantic Division. They will face two-time Stanley Cup defender Tampa Bay Lightning or Bruins, who reached the 2019 Stanley Cup final.
In any case, the playoff experience and success will not be on their side.
Muzin and striker Kyle Clifford are the only Maple Leafs members to have won the Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings (Muzzin in 2014, Clifford in 2012 and 2014). As such, Muzzin understands the grind, energy and sweat needed to endure the postseason.
Most of his teammates can’t do that.
From 2016-17, Maple Leafs, with a core of strikers Matthews, Mitchell Marner, William Nylander and defender Morgan Riley, qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs each season and failed to win a series. Last season, Toronto led 3-1 in the first round of the best of 7 ahead of rival Montreal Canadiens, who reached the Cup final.
Each time the season ended in a gloomy locker room with players wondering what had happened.
The hurdles in the Toronto playoffs have lasted much longer than that. The Maple Leafs have not won a playoff series in 18 years since beating the Ottawa Senators in seven games in the 2004 Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
For a perspective on this drought, consider the following: back then, the central ice red line was still used to monitor two-line offside passes.
Or this: Ed Belfour was the first goalkeeper of the Maple Leafs in the series against the Senators. He retired in 2008 and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011.
Still, these maple leaves have something to be optimistic about.
Toronto set its one-season record for most points (113) and wins (53) and scored 300 goals for the first time in 32 years; there are 307 to 81 games. Matthews, the center, scored the most goals from a Toronto player in a single season and became the first U.S.-born player in NHL history to score 60 in a single season. Marner, a right winger, set a Maple Leafs record for winger assists (he has 62 left to play).
Another moment has come for the playoffs and everything will be in vain, at least in the short term. At least some of the key players have returned to have a season in their careers after a shocking elimination against the Canadians.
“I think that’s what we’re all striving for, to grow and get better,” Matthews said. “We can use extra motivation from past losses and things like that. That’s the goal every year, whether as an individual or as a team, is to get better and be the best version of yourself that you can be every day, and you just kind of got out of there.
“I think we all realize that, but the success of the team comes first. What we’re trying to build and outgrow the playoffs here until spring, I think that’s the goal we’re all trying to work towards. “
Coach Sheldon Keefe, who replaced Mike Babcock on November 20, 2019, has never coached Toronto for a full-playoff playoff game at the Scotiabank Arena due to COVID-19 regulations, which limit capacity. Although he is looking forward to seeing fans in the stands for match 1 next week, he understands that the achievements of his players in the regular season have almost no weight after the start of the postseason.
“The achievements themselves, the important stages when the playoffs start, all come back to zero,” Keefe said. “So from this point of view, I don’t think they have a lot of emphasis or a lot of importance.
“The biggest thing I would say, however, is that we want our players to feel good and confident and all that. To this end, our players, almost men, we had guys who have had years of careers here in attack and defense, whatever. So from this area and this part of it, we feel good and our guys have a lot of reasons to be positive. , going to the playoffs. “
So, on this issue, does Keefe, who shone with pride during Wednesday’s photo shoot.
“It’s special to be able to train Leafs, no matter what the team behind you has achieved,” he said. “It’s a special thing, but this group in particular has given me many reasons to be proud of the work they have done. To get to this point, in my opinion, in the most competitive division in the NHL and to enter the First Round of the playoffs with the advantage of home ice is proof of the work that the group has done.
“So it’s nice to be sitting there. But, you know, we’d like to have another team photo when it’s all said and done with some trophies.”
Winning a post-season series for the first time in almost two decades would be a good start.
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