What went wrong for the Maple Leafs in their first-round exit to the Bruins?

BOSTON – Another season. Another first-round exit for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

For the seventh time in the past eight seasons, the Leafs were eliminated in the first round, this time by the Boston Bruins in seven games.

The Leafs rallied from a 3-1 series deficit without Auston Matthews, but ultimately fell to the Bruins in Game 7 in a bitter repeat of history. The Leafs also lost first-round series in 2013, 2018 and 2019 in seven games to the Bruins.

The series was initially lost as the Bruins dominated on special teams and in goal.

The Leafs’ star lineup was never able to tip the series in their favor, although injuries played a role in William Nylander and Matthews missing large chunks of the series.

Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly provided little offense. While John Tavares presented a strong defensive series, he finished the match with one goal and only two points.

In short, it’s been a familiar season for the Leafs in many ways.

Power play problems

It’s hard to say which special teams unit was more disruptive to the losing effort: the penalty kill or the power play.

Looking at the personnel, it was likely the power play that failed time and time again in crucial moments.

Leafs record Only once out of 18 chances, missing opportunity after opportunity to seize games, especially at the beginning of the series. For example, after falling behind 1-0 early in the second period of Game 1, the Leafs put on a 4-3 power play that resulted in Tavares having several missed opportunities.

The Bruins exploded soon after, scoring three goals in the same period to run away with the series opener.

While running the power play in his first season as an assistant coach with the Leafs, Jay Boucher couldn’t find any answers to what ailed the unit as it faltered in March and then, more damagingly, in April.

The Leafs were not without opportunities on the power play, some of which were glorious ones. They couldn’t get the money.

“He was a major factor in this series,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said before Game 6.

From Matthews to Nylander, Tavares and Marner, the Leafs’ stars have repeatedly struggled in the postseason to capitalize on power play opportunities. Tavares had the only power play goal of the entire series.

It was only his third power-play goal in the playoffs as a Leaf.

The Leafs went 0-for-1 in Game 7.

Problems with penalty kicks

The power play issues wouldn’t have caused as much damage if the Leafs had earned a penalty that led to more stops, especially in Games 1-4 when discipline was an issue.

Boston scored six goals on the power play against the penalty kill. At times, the Leafs couldn’t get a stick on a passing lane. Other times, they failed to clear the ball with a chance to do so. Other times, they couldn’t save.

With the odd exception, when they needed a stop on the PK, the Leafs couldn’t get it. As in Game 4, we lost 1-0 in the second half when Brad Marchand scored the lone goal. Or in Game 3, with the score tied and Tyler Bertuzzi in the box for a rough play, Jake DeBrusk gave the Bruins a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Leafs stopped taking bad penalties in Games 5, 6 and 7, limiting their exposure to the penalty kill, but by that point it was too late.

This was not a new problem for the Leafs.

They ranked among the worst penalty killing teams in the NHL during the regular season. This wasn’t a huge surprise after an offseason that saw first-year general manager Brad Treliving and team president Brendan Shanahan fail to replace the veteran penalty kill takers from the previous season.

Keefe and assistant coach Dean Chenoweth had no choice but to use a slew of penalty kills for the first time in the NHL, including Matthews, Pontus Holmberg, Nylander, Matthew Kniss and Bobby McMahon.

Meanwhile, TJ Brodie, once an important part of the penalty kill, declined quickly in the regular season and was scratched in six of seven games against the Bruins.

The front office didn’t bring in any substantive replacements at the trade deadline, just significant, solid depth on defense in the form of Joel Edmundson, Ilya Lyubochkin, and largely inexperienced forward Connor Dewar.

The Leafs had John Klingberg’s LTIR money and chose not to spend it on a significant top-four replacement.

The stars are falling short – again

The Leafs’ stars, stuck together again after another postseason disappointment last spring, ultimately failed to deliver when it mattered most. Matthews played like the MVP in the second game win, but was then injured due to illness and injury.

Go deeper

Auston Matthews is unlikely to play Game 5 for the Maple Leafs

Matthews left the fourth game after two periods when team doctors took him out of the game due to illness. He did not play in Games 5 and 6 due to injury. It is not surprising that the team is struggling. The Leafs were relying heavily on Matthews scoring goals. He was good for nearly one per game over the final four and a half months of the regular season. He finished with one in the series and added three assists.

Tavares defended well in game duty against Bruins star David Pastrnak and was the driving force behind the Knies’ Game 5 overtime win. But he was limited in his offensive contributions.

More damage for the Leafs: Another tepid playoff outing for Marner. He did not have a single multi-score outing in all series and only scored once. Playing without Nylander and Matthews, the Leafs needed more from Marner, the NHL’s seventh-leading scorer over the past four regular seasons.

Marner is eligible to sign an extension with the Leafs on July 1. And now, in the wake of another disappointing season, his future with the team will become one of the biggest, if not the biggest, storylines of the offseason.

The Leafs did not have Nylander for the first three games of the series for reasons he and the team chose not to explain until after Game 7.

“I was having migraines,” Nylander explained, adding that there were fears he might suffer a concussion and his vision would be affected. He added: “Once I started feeling better, they allowed me to play.”

Nylander returned for Game 4 and struggled initially before scoring both Leaf goals in the Game 6 win and the Leafs’ lone goal in Game 7.

As a result of their stars’ inability to penetrate Boston’s stout defense, the Leafs struggled to score any series. They have only scored more than two goals once, with three goals in the third game. This is from a team that trails only the Colorado Avalanche in goals during the regular season. This – a high-powered offense – was supposed to be the only advantage the Leafs had over the Bruins.

“It’s pretty clear: Teams play the Leafs, and they set the game up for the Leafs to beat themselves,” Keefe said after Game 7. “And I thought we did that in Games 3 and 4. We beat ourselves with the way we played.” house.”

The lack of offense come playoff time is what could ultimately cost Keefe his job as head coach. This and the frequent power struggles play out in the playoffs.

Keefe is the most effective regular season coach the Leafs have ever had, and is third among all active NHL coaches in points percentage.

But while his teams won big and scored goals in bunches during the regular season, as the Leafs coach they repeatedly struggled to break through hockey’s most space-deprived environment.

The two-year contract extension Keefe signed last August begins next season.

The Leafs’ best player in last year’s playoffs, Rielly, had less of an impact this time around, perhaps slowed by the limitations on puck movement of his partner, Lyubushkin. The lack of capable puck movers on the back end has certainly had an impact on the team’s struggles on offense.

Across all series, Boston made it difficult for the Leafs to penetrate the neutral zone and then generate high-danger shot opportunities inside the zone.

The Leafs have gotten just one goal from their defense in all series. It was recorded by Jake McCabe.

The depth was never achieved

Bertuzzi and Max Domi, two players the front office targeted last summer to provide a secondary boost on offense in the playoffs, have offered some help on that front, especially in Matthews’ absence. But not enough: Bertozzi, the most likely goalscorer after the top four strikers, only scored once. Both players struggled with penalties early in the series, with Brad Marchand in particular bothering them.

The fact that Tavares had to play a very defensive role in this series had to do with the roster building process.

The Leafs never replaced third-line center Ryan O’Reilly after last season and chose not to address the need in-season even when it was clearly an issue.

This left the inexperienced Holmberg in the third midfield position beyond his abilities (attacking abilities in particular). Holmberg was not in the team at the start of the season.

David Kämpf, who was signed to a four-year contract by Treliving in one of his first moves as GM, rarely left the fourth line all season and only for defensive purposes in the playoffs. Ryan Reaves, who signed a three-year deal in the opening hours of free agency along with Klingberg, had little impact on the series.

Not surprisingly, the Leafs got almost no offense from their bottom two lines. Only one goal from Kampf in the first match.

Ilya Samsonov was easily overwhelmed by the Bruins’ goaltenders. (Bob DiChiara/USA Today)

Losing the battle in goal

The other big problem for the Leafs’ entire series: Their goaltending was inferior to the Bruins’, by and large, early in the series.

Ilya Samsonov was easily beaten by Jeremy Swayman (for the most part) and Linus Ullmark. Samsonov’s worst moment of the series came in game three. Kniss had just scored in the second period to give the Leafs a 1-0 lead in their first home game.

Just over four minutes later, Trent Frederic beat Samsonov with a dead-shot to tie the game.

The Leafs would never lead to Game 3 again.

Joseph Wall was outstanding in winning Games 5 and 6, but by then it was too late for the Leafs, and he missed Game 7 with an injury. Samsonov returned to the net in game seven and played well. But not well enough.

Another failure in the postseason should spark a change for the Leafs. How much change is there really? That may be due in part to how much change Keith Pelley, the new president of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, would like.

Bailey’s first order of business should be to determine Shanahan’s fate — and, by extension, Treliving’s fate as GM and whether the top of the roster will finally change hands.

Shanahan’s teams have won one playoff round in 10 seasons.

This was not the best of those teams. far from it. But it’s still a team that should have done more than this.

(John Tavares Image: Steve Babineaux/NHLI via Getty Images)