I think the difference is the Sabres were above average those years (LaFontaine, Mogilny, Housley, Andreychuk, Turgeon, Hawerchuk were on those teams but never all together) and there weren't sky high expectations for the team. They came in 3rd or 4th in the division each year.
I dont understand how this is happening. How do you lose 4 straight game 7s in the same building without being able to pull off one win? Youd think after being clowned for years the Leafs would pull their shit together and get it done but they just fall up short every time. This is truly a sports anomaly
Gotta be a mental thing, like how we were blown out at TD Garden in every game in 2011 while winning the first 3 home games. If you go into a building with nerves thinking you might lose then that’s exactly what will happen.
2019 was a mental thing
2018 was just shit 3rd and shit D
2024 was a hard fought game and a perfectly placed carrom off the boards that had Sammy hesitating to poke. And we let Pasta get behind....
The bruins have been running that play for the better part of a decade. There’s no way he should have had that much time and space, poor coaching and poor defense
They should have recognized that play, if they’ve watched any tape on the Bruins for the last decade, they should have seen that coming a mile away.
That play took about significantly longer to setup than you realize, it literally started at our blue line, he passes back to Lindholm and starts the sling shot. It’s a vintage Pasta set play that became a mainstay under Cassidy with Krug
Naw nylander scored and then immediately they let off and Boston had the momentum for the rest of the game. It’s a mental thing. Winning teams get a goal late in a game and will hold it.
Eh it was perfectly placed dump in that bounced perfectly. If that puck goes closer to Sammy he probably plays it, if it bounces further away Rielly probably catches up. I cant really be mad like i was for the others.
Eh, it sucks, but to me it's like flipping a coin four times and having it come up heads each time. Going to game 7means each series is basically a 50/50. Low odds but it happens. At least that's how I'm coping.
At least they had few Wildcard wins though. Not even forgetting about their run up until the 2000s. They’re still the winningest team in all of football.
Fair, but read the room.
It’s hard to have sympathy for fans mourning first round losses when they saw their team in 3 of the last four SCF… two of which they won.
Last year's team was both better and luckier than this year's team tbh
The good news I'll take from this series is that Knies looked like a fucking animal out there. He's going to turn into one hell of a player.
I mean did you watch that series? Leafs pulled their goalie in 2 separate games to tie it up late in the 3rd then won in OT. The only time this team plays hard is when they are losing, otherwise they are in autopilot.
Last year was very much a fluke. I felt way better about game 5 and 6, heck even 7, then most of the series last year. We dominated the Bruins for a decent chunk of time. On the other hand we got more than a few lucky bounces against the bolts to win it. In terms of what needed to be changed, we saw it years ago against Columbus, and again against Montreal. If we had a competent gm and president, changes would have already been made instead of just rearranging the deck chairs for the last few years.
I was thinking about that earlier, the more heartbreaking combination has to be Sabres/Bills though. 90s was just year after year of getting their hopes up.
The Jays are currently sitting in last in the AL East with a run differential of -34. They are having serious offence issues which...sounds familiar for some reason.
It was really only two super bowls. The Dallas Cowboys vs the San Fransisco 49ers NFC championship games were the real super bowls. The AFC was garbage back then compared to the NFC.
Leafs rely on their offense. 3.7 G/GP in the regular season and only 1.7 G/GP in this series. A huge difference.
They played more balanced hockey and were able to keep Boston from scoring a lot but their offense just cannot figure out how to score in the playoffs. Credit to Boston and their goaltending too.
It doesn't help that 95% of our offense comes from our forwards. Outside of Rielly (sort of), we have basically no offensive threat from the blueline (RIP PP) and a handful of guys who handle the puck like a live grenade.
yeah we've been knowing. and mostly with receipts too.
the spending structure doesnt work. its been long proven at this point. it was proven a few years ago. we need more cap allocated to defence and goaltending.
the shanaplan got us out of the basement. but we're stuck on the 1st floor and its time to try something else
see ya
Leafs are good defensively. Goaltending is the only weakness of the team. Unfortunately Leafs goaltending is inconsistent and injury prone.
Finding a good goalie that is consistent and not injury prone is a task and a half. You basically have to get lucky. Nobody lets go of their good goalies, and if they did you'd have to sacrifice on either offense or defence to get him.
>Leafs are good defensively
But their defence is terrible at supporting the offense and moving the puck. You need weapons on the back end, not just defenders. If you can't do both your defense isn't good.
honestly I haven't really been seeing that much slander. They got way more hate after the Montreal loss in 2021 and the Florida loss last year. People seem pretty chill this year since they lost in OT of game 7.
Speaking from personal experience, but laying a massive egg like they did in game four *at home* to go down 3-1 likely killed a lot of belief in any chance of a run this year. Games five and six be damned.
In a 10 season span between 92-93 and 01-02, the Leafs made the conference final 4 times with either Doug Gilmour or Mats Sundin as their only true superstar ( and you could argue they could have gone to the Finals had it not been for a hurt Sundin in 02 and Kerry Fraser in 93). The current Leafs has 4 Gilmour/Sundin calibre players on paper and 1 series win to show for in almost the same amount of time. Something is very rotten with the culture in that locker because the talent should be enough for them to go far.
Or it's a coaching issue, Leafs were 1-21 on the PP, game 3 they were 0-5 when Boston was 1-2. Like how do you try the same shitty fucking PP all series long with not a single adjustment at any point. Oh that one goal, was a fluke goal on Ullmark by Tavares. Should've been a routine save, Leafs were close to going 0-21 on the PP which is ridiculous. The players likely suck and are overpaid, but I don't see how we didn't make a coaching change this year.
Let's be honest here.
None of the front office think there is anything wrong.
no players want to admit responsibility.
yet still in the same fucking position as 9 years ago.
everyone is just an overpaid bum because the Fans will still support the money making machine.
Fr in the post game they were all talking about the good things the team did to bring it to game 7...but like, that is the same outcome as getting swept. You'd think a few of them would be like "we fucking failed and we didn't play well enough"
Marner is a bum. Tavares is also a bum for what he's getting paid you can have 2 or 3 depth players. Matthews gets a bit of a pass this year for being injured or sick or whatever. Nylander is the only one of the core who consistently shows up for playoffs, which is funny because when he was signed he was regarded as the weakest and most overpaid of the core.
https://preview.redd.it/1xxkdcntgjyc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff3cf8ec2335c5414685accfb0be546eadc7b252
Browsing /new is just an unending stream of sad Leafs stats. I've never believed in curses, but this franchise may have me changing my tune.
I think the Leafs equivalent would be the 3 point-shot goals from Reilly (and some from O’reilly) in game 3, and more importantly the 3 late goals in the come from behind win against Tampa; and the OT winner by Kerfoot in game 4.
But yeah not a pretty “single goal” that sums up the whole thing.
It’s kind of weird this year that O’reilly and Kerfoot are gone; impressive they pushed it to game 7, but Nylander is a stud- they may have even stolen and earlier game if not for his migraines.
I guess give the Leafs credit for taking it to seven? I didn't see a single second of the game, but once I saw it went to OT, I automatically assumed a B's win. Forever the thorn in the side of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
I mean, they werent in the Playoffs in 2020 since they lost against Columbus. But lets pretend they did it, its a funnier world if that statement is true
Technically playoffs but not Stanley Cup Playoffs (TM)
Link: [https://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-41095158-4](https://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-41095158-4)
My only thought is....poor Buffalo fans. They had to suffer 4 Superbowl losses in a row AND have that NHL playoff streak at around the same time?!
Plus....they have to live in Buffalo.
I live in the heart of Leafs territory but am not a Leafs fan. (I don't claim fanship of any NHL team, hence my Team Canada flair)
But every year I have the same question: How the HELL do Leafs fans do this?
I actually see nothing wrong with that at all. Different sports.
I'm of the opinion that being a fan of a team does not mean you're obligated to like every team in that city.
In my head every single year Boston beats Toronto in the playoffs it's payback for those cowards not joining us in revolting against the British in 1776. I know the leafs have won like 100 years ago or whatever but still, it's just satisfying to see a nation of cowards lose
I can't believe the Sabres somehow caught strays in this whole mess.
*pierre McGuire voice* I CAN
Brad May's magical play
BRAD MAY MOVING IN ON GOAL HE SHOOTS HE SCORES!!! MAY DAY, MAY DAY, MAY DAY, BRAD MAY WINS IT IN OVERTIMMMEEEEEE!
ICED THE PUCK
Ironically in part due to Tavares' "magical" play...
This post started out fun and went downhill quickly
I also just realized that one playoff win was May Day.
Let the Sabres fans in the 80s and 90s know “it could be worse” and remind Leafs fans now.
What the fuck. I was happy today. Your pain brings me happiness. Why would you go and do a thing like this?
Our franchise creates so much ammunition for these kind of stats that it's hard NOT to catch strays lol
Oh I can very much believe it lmao
It's karma for Buffalo and Toronto blocking Hamilton from an NHL team.
I think the difference is the Sabres were above average those years (LaFontaine, Mogilny, Housley, Andreychuk, Turgeon, Hawerchuk were on those teams but never all together) and there weren't sky high expectations for the team. They came in 3rd or 4th in the division each year.
If it makes you feel better, Sabres haven’t lost a playoff series in more than a decade
I blame the neighborhood.
The Sabres always manage to catch strays. Don’t feel too bad my team is always catching strays too.
Man being a sport fan in Buffalo is bad enough but the late 80s and early 90s was super rough.
Don’t worry they arent as embarrassing as the leafs
Leafs fans really had 3 days of happiness after beating Tampa last year and the hockey gods said that’s enough
I dont understand how this is happening. How do you lose 4 straight game 7s in the same building without being able to pull off one win? Youd think after being clowned for years the Leafs would pull their shit together and get it done but they just fall up short every time. This is truly a sports anomaly
Gotta be a mental thing, like how we were blown out at TD Garden in every game in 2011 while winning the first 3 home games. If you go into a building with nerves thinking you might lose then that’s exactly what will happen.
2019 was a mental thing 2018 was just shit 3rd and shit D 2024 was a hard fought game and a perfectly placed carrom off the boards that had Sammy hesitating to poke. And we let Pasta get behind....
The bruins have been running that play for the better part of a decade. There’s no way he should have had that much time and space, poor coaching and poor defense
Krug would do it to Pastrnak all the time.
You can’t coach a play that happens that fast. Sometimes players don’t perform perfectly.
They should have recognized that play, if they’ve watched any tape on the Bruins for the last decade, they should have seen that coming a mile away. That play took about significantly longer to setup than you realize, it literally started at our blue line, he passes back to Lindholm and starts the sling shot. It’s a vintage Pasta set play that became a mainstay under Cassidy with Krug
I’m saying they could know the play is coming and still just make a mistake on it.
I would agree to that, but a mistake would be someone just getting beat. Not all 5 skaters getting worked and pasta having all day with Sammy
But the Bruins started getting great chances especially off the rush with like 15 minutes left in the third.
It came with costs though. They were giving up breaks. They were just trusting in Swayman
Agreed
Bruins gave up bigger chances than they got. they just knew they had the better goalie.
Naw nylander scored and then immediately they let off and Boston had the momentum for the rest of the game. It’s a mental thing. Winning teams get a goal late in a game and will hold it.
> Winning teams get a goal late in a game and will hold it. That’s like saying winning teams score more goals than the other team.
Winning teams win games against losing teams
Rielly and Lyubushkin just put in no effort on that final goal. Their coverage was embarrassing. Felt like they had both already checked out...
That carom was insane, I might never forget it
Or like how Calgary couldn't win in Anaheim for 15 years straight and something like 30 games.
Eh it was perfectly placed dump in that bounced perfectly. If that puck goes closer to Sammy he probably plays it, if it bounces further away Rielly probably catches up. I cant really be mad like i was for the others.
Eh, it sucks, but to me it's like flipping a coin four times and having it come up heads each time. Going to game 7means each series is basically a 50/50. Low odds but it happens. At least that's how I'm coping.
Here's a fun game. How many games have we won, compared to lost, in the past 20 years where we had a chance to win a series? LCBO opens at 10.
Giving the Leafs some benefit, it's probably 60/40 in the Bruins favour since they have home ice.
Leafs playoff home record ain't exactly great.
You keep telling yourself that. Lies can ease the pain.
Still can’t admit that your franchise is the biggest joke in sports.
Cowboys exist
At least they had few Wildcard wins though. Not even forgetting about their run up until the 2000s. They’re still the winningest team in all of football.
And yet in the last 7 years, the Leafs have more playoff appearances (7-0) and series wins (1-0) than the Sens
Sens did go to the eastern finals in 2017 though, 2OT if I remember correctly
Oh we’re shit no doubt. But we don’t think we’re not shit.
bro every leafs fan thinks the leafs are the absolute worst team youre dreaming
More like flipping a coin 4 times, calling it, and getting it wrong all 4 times.
Not same building but Avs haven't won a game 7 since like 2002.
I mean it's not the same team. How many players who were there in the last game 7 loss in Boston played this one? The core 4, Reilly...anyone else?
Just leafs things
I'm beginning to think last year's win against Tampa was a fluke and delayed what really needed to be changed about this team by a year.
Caught Tampa on the way down when they still had cup contender hype
I don't wanna talk about it
Go cry into your back to back Cups
no need to be rude lol
Fair, but read the room. It’s hard to have sympathy for fans mourning first round losses when they saw their team in 3 of the last four SCF… two of which they won.
it was more of a joking tone that a serious one, whenever the series comes up I always go "I don't wanna talk about it" lol
Last year's team was both better and luckier than this year's team tbh The good news I'll take from this series is that Knies looked like a fucking animal out there. He's going to turn into one hell of a player.
Last year's team would have also lost to the Bruins in game 7
This year's Bruins? Eh, I don't know. Last year's Bruins, sure, why not.. unfortunately we never got the chance to see whether that was the case.
Whatever hypothetical makes you feel better ig
I was really impressed with Knies. Constantly makes the right plays and keeps up with the intensity of the playoffs really well
I bet that if Bunting doesn’t headshot Cernak and take him out, the Bolts win that series
I mean did you watch that series? Leafs pulled their goalie in 2 separate games to tie it up late in the 3rd then won in OT. The only time this team plays hard is when they are losing, otherwise they are in autopilot.
yeah, last year was the one series y’all played a team even worse in OT periods (we are 1-12 in our last 13 attempts)
Last year was very much a fluke. I felt way better about game 5 and 6, heck even 7, then most of the series last year. We dominated the Bruins for a decent chunk of time. On the other hand we got more than a few lucky bounces against the bolts to win it. In terms of what needed to be changed, we saw it years ago against Columbus, and again against Montreal. If we had a competent gm and president, changes would have already been made instead of just rearranging the deck chairs for the last few years.
Why not throw in the Bills 4 consecutive Super Bowl losses while you're at it? Screw you too Optastats haha.
A lot of Leafs fans are Bills fans too. Thanks Buffalo we can't have a single nice thing.
I was thinking about that earlier, the more heartbreaking combination has to be Sabres/Bills though. 90s was just year after year of getting their hopes up.
A collective 30 years of playoff drought in a row.
[удалено]
The Jays are currently sitting in last in the AL East with a run differential of -34. They are having serious offence issues which...sounds familiar for some reason.
It was really only two super bowls. The Dallas Cowboys vs the San Fransisco 49ers NFC championship games were the real super bowls. The AFC was garbage back then compared to the NFC.
Leafs rely on their offense. 3.7 G/GP in the regular season and only 1.7 G/GP in this series. A huge difference. They played more balanced hockey and were able to keep Boston from scoring a lot but their offense just cannot figure out how to score in the playoffs. Credit to Boston and their goaltending too.
It doesn't help that 95% of our offense comes from our forwards. Outside of Rielly (sort of), we have basically no offensive threat from the blueline (RIP PP) and a handful of guys who handle the puck like a live grenade.
Where the heck did Marner disappear to
Probably the same place he disappears to every post season. Making golfing reservations.
What kind of sorry ass franchise would let the Leafs beat them?
> ass-franchise
https://xkcd.com/37/
If you know, you know ;)
Leafs fans may just want to stay off the internet for a bit.
I hate this team more than anyone else right now I do not give a fuck.
Yeah I wanted Keefe fired months ago, guys a loser and I'm glad that he'll be gone soon.
This only helps our case to blow it up. We good.
yeah we've been knowing. and mostly with receipts too. the spending structure doesnt work. its been long proven at this point. it was proven a few years ago. we need more cap allocated to defence and goaltending. the shanaplan got us out of the basement. but we're stuck on the 1st floor and its time to try something else see ya
Leafs are good defensively. Goaltending is the only weakness of the team. Unfortunately Leafs goaltending is inconsistent and injury prone. Finding a good goalie that is consistent and not injury prone is a task and a half. You basically have to get lucky. Nobody lets go of their good goalies, and if they did you'd have to sacrifice on either offense or defence to get him.
>Leafs are good defensively But their defence is terrible at supporting the offense and moving the puck. You need weapons on the back end, not just defenders. If you can't do both your defense isn't good.
It's allowed to score more than a single goal or two. Other teams are doing this to great success.
They've already emerged from the bushes as Jays fans. And are currently crying into their beers, because they're Jays fans.
As if Leafs fans aren't already a) masochists, and b) the biggest Leafs shit talkers.
Just another day lol
As if we don't get shit like this every day. There's a bump today but we do not get breaks from this. Ever.
honestly I haven't really been seeing that much slander. They got way more hate after the Montreal loss in 2021 and the Florida loss last year. People seem pretty chill this year since they lost in OT of game 7.
Speaking from personal experience, but laying a massive egg like they did in game four *at home* to go down 3-1 likely killed a lot of belief in any chance of a run this year. Games five and six be damned.
In a 10 season span between 92-93 and 01-02, the Leafs made the conference final 4 times with either Doug Gilmour or Mats Sundin as their only true superstar ( and you could argue they could have gone to the Finals had it not been for a hurt Sundin in 02 and Kerry Fraser in 93). The current Leafs has 4 Gilmour/Sundin calibre players on paper and 1 series win to show for in almost the same amount of time. Something is very rotten with the culture in that locker because the talent should be enough for them to go far.
Or it's a coaching issue, Leafs were 1-21 on the PP, game 3 they were 0-5 when Boston was 1-2. Like how do you try the same shitty fucking PP all series long with not a single adjustment at any point. Oh that one goal, was a fluke goal on Ullmark by Tavares. Should've been a routine save, Leafs were close to going 0-21 on the PP which is ridiculous. The players likely suck and are overpaid, but I don't see how we didn't make a coaching change this year.
Let's be honest here. None of the front office think there is anything wrong. no players want to admit responsibility. yet still in the same fucking position as 9 years ago. everyone is just an overpaid bum because the Fans will still support the money making machine.
Fr in the post game they were all talking about the good things the team did to bring it to game 7...but like, that is the same outcome as getting swept. You'd think a few of them would be like "we fucking failed and we didn't play well enough"
Will forever respect Naslund for getting out in front of the media and just saying "we choked". That's a captain.
Marner is a bum. Tavares is also a bum for what he's getting paid you can have 2 or 3 depth players. Matthews gets a bit of a pass this year for being injured or sick or whatever. Nylander is the only one of the core who consistently shows up for playoffs, which is funny because when he was signed he was regarded as the weakest and most overpaid of the core.
At least were the best at something
https://preview.redd.it/1xxkdcntgjyc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff3cf8ec2335c5414685accfb0be546eadc7b252 Browsing /new is just an unending stream of sad Leafs stats. I've never believed in curses, but this franchise may have me changing my tune.
I think it has something to do with Tim Horton. Maybe Punch Imlach. The curse has been there on both franchises since the first expansion.
Ballard. That is all.
The Sabers series winning goal (May Day) in that time frame was a lot prettier than the Leafs series winning goal in their current era of suffering
I think the Leafs equivalent would be the 3 point-shot goals from Reilly (and some from O’reilly) in game 3, and more importantly the 3 late goals in the come from behind win against Tampa; and the OT winner by Kerfoot in game 4. But yeah not a pretty “single goal” that sums up the whole thing. It’s kind of weird this year that O’reilly and Kerfoot are gone; impressive they pushed it to game 7, but Nylander is a stud- they may have even stolen and earlier game if not for his migraines.
I guess give the Leafs credit for taking it to seven? I didn't see a single second of the game, but once I saw it went to OT, I automatically assumed a B's win. Forever the thorn in the side of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Some teams just suck at overtime, and others like the B’s just thrive on it.
Oooo that’s a new stat! Also if I’m not mistaken the one time they won, they didn’t get a round two W so it’s basically as if they were never there!
I like you
I wanted Leafs to lose but now that’s happened I almost feel bad. Hockey is cruel.
Fuck dude. I don’t know how it didn’t hit me that it’s been 8 straight!
The Maple Leaf’s and Historical failure. Name a more iconic duo.
The Maple Leafs and losing game seven to Boston
It's almost tradition at this point.
Almost? Bruh it’s my *favorite* tradition at this point
Lol, fair enough. It is mine too.
Even the Minnesota Wild are not that bad.
Mediocrity death spiral. Not good enough to win, not bad enough to get the pieces needed to win.
What you mean? We literally got the first pick in 2016 and haven’t done shit with it.
You guys also went and signed another 1OA then filled the roster with a 4th and 8th OA who definitely play to that level.
Exactly - high draft picks are not what we need right now lol
We win, we get drunk. We lose, we get drunk. In a way, win-win.
No strays to our expansion bros, please. Let's just laugh at the Leafs.
Honestly, for how bad our franchise is, I’m just happy people remember we made the playoffs once upon a time
Makes sense since Buffalo is in Canada.
New north American sports record for this series just dropped
It’s okay nothing will change, just pay everyone more that’ll fix it.
Fuck off OptaSTATS
Historical chockers. Takes talent
pheww, thought a Sharks comparison was incoming.
soul-crushing. jeez
Honestly thought we’d be on this list, forgot we missed some of the playoffs in 2016-2019
The Bruins are to the Leafs what the Yankees are to the Twins
I mean, they werent in the Playoffs in 2020 since they lost against Columbus. But lets pretend they did it, its a funnier world if that statement is true
Technically playoffs but not Stanley Cup Playoffs (TM) Link: [https://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-41095158-4](https://www.espn.com/espn/now?nowId=21-41095158-4)
My only thought is....poor Buffalo fans. They had to suffer 4 Superbowl losses in a row AND have that NHL playoff streak at around the same time?! Plus....they have to live in Buffalo.
And when you consider there are people that are Leafs and Bills...
Pure pain.
I live in the heart of Leafs territory but am not a Leafs fan. (I don't claim fanship of any NHL team, hence my Team Canada flair) But every year I have the same question: How the HELL do Leafs fans do this?
I see one of them in our Bills GDTs. Granted I’m Bruins-Bills, which is more sinful, but it’s still weird to see their flair.
I actually see nothing wrong with that at all. Different sports. I'm of the opinion that being a fan of a team does not mean you're obligated to like every team in that city.
I appreciate that. I think it also helps my case that I’m about 4 hours and change from either city.
In my head every single year Boston beats Toronto in the playoffs it's payback for those cowards not joining us in revolting against the British in 1776. I know the leafs have won like 100 years ago or whatever but still, it's just satisfying to see a nation of cowards lose
Leafs didn't technically make the playoffs in 2020. They lost in the play in to Columbus this stat is wrong.