The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to put their fans through pure torture.
After going down 3-1 in their first-round series against the Boston Bruins, the Leafs battled back to win Game Five and Game Six to even things up heading back to Boston. In Saturday night’s winner-take-all matchup, Toronto picked up a late lead on a William Nylander goal in Game Seven before capitulating once more to the Bruins.
Hampus Lindholm fired a seeing-eye wrister past Ilya Samsonov to tie the game in the third and David Pastrnak ended Toronto’s season with a heartbreaking overtime winner.
Boston has won every playoff series against the Maple Leafs over the last 65 years. Each of Toronto’s last four series against the Bruins has come down to the seventh game and the Leafs have held a third-period lead in three of four of those final matchups before losing.
Jeremy Swayman was the MVP of the series for the Bruins as the 25-year-old netminder stopped 30 shots in the final victory. According to MoneyPuck, Swayman stopped over a goal more than expected, exactly what Boston needed in their 2-1 win.
The Maple Leafs got their superstar center Auston Matthews back from injury for the game and he helped set up Nylander’s goal in the third.
With Matthews out for Games Five and Six, Toronto relied heavily on goaltender Joseph Woll to dig out of their 3-1 series deficit. Unfortunately, Woll was a late injury scratch for Game Seven so Toronto had to go back to former Washington Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov. Samsonov battled hard in a tough spot, making 29 saves in the loss.
The Bruins move on to play the Florida Panthers in the second round while the Leafs head into another uncertain offseason. Important decisions will need to be made on head coach Sheldon Keefe as well as members of the team’s core who have failed in the postseason yet again.
Toronto, one of the league’s Original Six franchises, has not won a Stanley Cup since 1967.
Poor, poor Steve Dangle. Brutal.
