It was the same old story for the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 against the Florida Panthers. Florida dismantled Toronto in a 6-1 victory to advance to the Eastern Conference final against the Carolina Hurricanes.
From a Maple Leafs perspective, Sunday night's blowout loss had fans fuming at Scotiabank Arena. Several Maple Leafs sweaters were thrown onto the ice, as well as other debris, regardless of whether the play was on or not. And fans started to stream out of the stands with around 10 minutes left to play in the third period.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice and left winger Brad Marchand came to their opposition's defense after the game, specifically when discussing how much pressure the fan base and media put on the Leafs.
“If you look at the heat this team catches, it’s actually really unfortunate,” Marchand told reporters after the game. “They’ve been working and building something really big here for a while, and they were a different brand of hockey this year, and they’re getting crucified, and I don’t think it’s justified.”
Marchand, who's 5-0 against Toronto in Game 7s, also said a second-round rubber match is not as high-pressured as a Stanley Cup final matchup, but the fans beat that pressure into the Maple Leafs anyway.
"It's got to be tough on those guys to walk through the rink every day and not feel that because you see the way the fans treat them at the end – how do you not feel that every single day?"
Maurice, who coached the Maple Leafs for two seasons from 2006 to 2008, said there is a reason why players on Toronto are paid significantly higher than the rest of the NHL. Auston Matthews, William Nylander, John Tavares, and pending UFA Mitch Marner are among the top 15 players in the NHL with the highest average annual values.
“What’s great for the league is hard for the Toronto Maple Leafs and their players,” Maurice said. “The passion, the scrutiny these men are under is why everybody else gets paid so much. It’s a driver. There’s a cost to it.”
He went on to compliment the team's progress over the years, saying they’re “much better” than the team Florida beat in five games in the second round of the 2023 NHL playoffs.
“It’s a much better team than we played 23 years ago in the conference final,” Maurice recalled from his days with the Hurricanes in the 2002 playoffs.
Maurice, therefore, has the Leafs in the group of Stanley Cup contenders.
“This team is in that group of teams – like ours – where there’s 11 this year. Then there’s eight. They have a chance. So you’re going to assign a whole bunch of character flaws that just aren’t true.”
The Toronto Maple Leafs' Stanley Cup Window Has Slammed ShutAny hope the Toronto Maple Leafs had of winning a Stanley Cup when Auston Matthews was drafted nine years ago went up in a cloud of apathy-filled smoke when the Maple Leafs lost Game 7 of their second-round series against the Florida Panthers Sunday night.
The Maple Leafs’ 13 games this post-season were the most they played in the playoffs since the 13 in 2004. And in Craig Berube’s first season as the Leafs’ coach, the team won the Atlantic Division, the third time it clinched its division since 1967-68, when divisions were first formed.
“It's so much closer than you think, but you're going to kill these guys, and they don't deserve it,” Maurice said. “Puck went our way tonight, that's it.”
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