Toronto Mapleleafs

Let's set the scene. Game three. You've already lost the first two games of the series at home, and now you're looking to level the playing field a little. After outplaying and out chancing your opponent last game, you're really looking to take the next step needed to take your game to the next level. You know what's at stake, you know what's expected, and yet, you come out with that.

So, I'll ask the question. Toronto: what the hell was that? They lacked urgency. They lacked passion. They lacked common sense; giving the puck away on simple plays more times than I could count. Your usual stars, Marner and Matthews, instead of being their team's best players start to look like their worst. Marner seemingly giving the puck away every time he touched it, Mattthews hitting the post on his first shift of the game, and seemingly disappearing for the rest. The defense were no better, and nobody can point blame solely on Justin Holl. Sorry, he's not going to be the punching bag this time, because all the Leafs defense were terrible tonight.

The only love I'll give is to both Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll. Imagine, being thrust into the game as Woll was, with everything on the line. Knowing a loss would be basically a death sentence. Knowing one wrong move would cost your team the game. But I have to give him props; he looked great out there. He looked cool, calm, collected, and made some key stops to keep the Leafs in the game. He didn't look like the rookie goalie that he is. And Samsonov, having a good game before being injured by his own player. There was clearly somwething nagging at him before this incident, that was obvious; but you can't help but feel for him. He's the reason why the Leafs even got to see the second round, and now, he's watching from the side as his effort is sadly wasted away.

There's one thing I can't and won't understand. How can a team be so good, have so much star power and strength, play such an important game like that? They started off the third period strong but then tapered off, acting as if it was a regular season game, and they were just trying to hang on to get the overtime pity point. But this is the playoffs; there are no points for trying; it's go big or go home, and tonight it looked like the only thing they wanted to do was go home.

They continuously will say in interviews; we need to be better; we have to be better; we're going to do better. So, where is that effort? Where was the sense of urgency? Where were their star players when we needed them the most?

I can see why people are so hasty to make fun of the Leafs, and their fans. We've been feeding into the same bullshit for the last 19 years.

Let's face it, they were incredibly lucky to get by Tampa. I may only have this opinion, but personally I thought Tampa was the better team in that series. But somehow, the Leafs managed to get the job done, and win their first round series in almost twenty years. That's all well and good, but it doesn't seem to shake away all the disappointment felt in these first three games of the second round. And, if the Leafs keep at their pace, they'll see their last game of the 20222-2023 season on Wednesday night in Florida.

Maybe I'm jumping the gun too quickly. Teams have come back and won from a 3-0 series deficit, right? Teams have overcome adversity far worse than this, haven't they? There's one thing that seems to be in the way of them winning; they have to beat two teams it seems. The Panthers, who have become sort of a Cinderella story. Barely squeaking into the playoffs, beating the best team in the league in seven games, coming back from a 3-1 series deficit no less, and themselves. There's something that's not quite right with the way the Leafs play; and that was visible tonight. They're constantly battling themselves along with the other team.

You can't blame the refs. Though they did not get a power play opportunity, there were calls missed both ways, probably keeping them out of the box a few times. Blaming them is almost automatic at this point. There's only one thing they can blame for being in the embarrassing chokehold they're in; and it's themselves. I'll say minus Samsonov and Woll. I'll be honest, the goaltending was the most of my worries this playoffs, yet it's the thing that's come out the strongest. The bad plays, the turnovers, the lack of defensive sense, making plays they normally would never make (I'm looking at you passing it directly to Florida in your own zone, O'Rielly). What's happened to this team?

I'll be honest, I don't care what any of them has to say after this. I'll put it in the words of Ilya Samsonov when asked about Bob; "I don't give a f***". It doesn't matter what they say, because they can never back up their words with action.

I'll gladly eat my words. If they want to prove me wrong, prove that they're not a team that just folds like a cheap tent the moment they sense adversity. But they may potentially have one more game left in this series, and it's going to say a lot about who they are as a team.

They can say whatever they want in their pre-game, post-game, whatever time of day. Until they can actually back up their words with some form of action, I don't believe this Leafs season goes past Wednesday.