4 of the last 5yrs Toronto lost to a team who made it to the Stanley Cup Finals

[Donnie740]

“We got a lot of respect in the handshake line.”

 

[dubey]

“We got a lot of respect in the handshake line.”

Yep

All this means is the team has never been good enough

 

[Phion Keneuf]

Don’t worry big Jim Treviling will save all with the same rotten core next year.

At least he can give us free pizza.

 

[Stephen]

There seems to be some kind of confidence/goalie boost to beating Toronto. It's not exactly the Leafs being good enough to go on those runs themselves but it's like the perfect tune-up for whatever reason.

 

[leafsfan5]

There seems to be some kind of confidence/goalie boost to beating Toronto. It's not exactly the Leafs being good enough to go on those runs themselves but it's like the perfect tune-up for whatever reason.

Korpisalo in 2020
Price in 2021
Vasi in 2022 (he excelled in game 6 OT + game 7)
Bobrovsky in 2023

These guys all started their hot runs against us. Once a goalie gets into a zone it’s tough to beat them, but we’re the ones PUTTING them in the zone. Not a good sign lol

 

[RoadWarrior]

We lose to the team that loses to the team that wins the cup.

That means we're elite?

Entitled…yes.

 

[htpwn]

There seems to be some kind of confidence/goalie boost to beating Toronto. It's not exactly the Leafs being good enough to go on those runs themselves but it's like the perfect tune-up for whatever reason.

Korpisalo in 2020
Price in 2021
Vasi in 2022 (he excelled in game 6 OT + game 7)
Bobrovsky in 2023

These guys all started their hot runs against us. Once a goalie gets into a zone it’s tough to beat them, but we’re the ones PUTTING them in the zone. Not a good sign lol

Yup. If it was once or twice, then you could say it is just happenstance or coincidence (to paraphrase the famed novelist Ian Fleming).

But four times? Either the Leafs are the unluckiest team on the planet (which may be true, tbh) or there is something that we are doing that is making it too easy on these goalies (Bourne has speculated that we aren't getting to the net nearly as well as we do in the regular season).

They then use momentum from beating us to take their teams on deep runs.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

This stat does not erase TOR's playoff futility...or change this image.

 

[ZEBROA]

So i should put all my lifesparings on Vegas? Seems like a Vegas thing to do.

 

[Niagara Bill]

Korpisalo in 2020
Price in 2021
Vasi in 2022 (he excelled in game 6 OT + game 7)
Bobrovsky in 2023

These guys all started their hot runs against us. Once a goalie gets into a zone it’s tough to beat them, but we’re the ones PUTTING them in the zone. Not a good sign lol

Our big guns (hmmm) get timid and stats show they are shooting from 10 feet farther out, especially on pp. Our basketball weave pp does not work in tense environment.

 

[Notsince67]

Tkachuk wouldn't have fit the culture dubas built here.

Probably a fair comment.

 

[Dayjobdave]

Bobrovsky went in the zone against the Bruins, not us, and the rest of those goalies were in the first round, so it’s not like the Leafs are responsible for them getting hot.

The team doesn’t play desperate enough and they think they can win on talent alone. I think sometimes management and the fans are guilty of thinking this too. The team playing hard and desperate really only means they can win, not that they will. Sometimes you don’t get the bounces, and other teams make plays too.

That being said, change is need here, but change just gets us to the dance, it doesn’t guarantee we do any better. Florida winning 9 one goal games out of their 12 wins is a testament to their doggedness and an example that things are breaking their way.

Them sweeping Carolina does make me feel better about the Leafs, but it doesn’t change the fact that the team needs to change to go deeper.

 

[Nineteen67]

The first round is where teams take the most impactful damage too.

Typically. But if your first round opponent isn’t very physical it seems to help.

 

[ACC1224]

We lose to the team that loses to the team that wins the cup.

That means we're elite?

3rd best every year.

 

[daver]

Yeah, that’s some crazy bad luck… wonder if bet99 or 365 had odds on that?

Get Wayne or Cabbie onto it.

 

[DarkKnight]

We lose to winners. Sort of the point.

 

[LeafGrief]

To me, this is an indicator of just how hard we've screwed the pooch. The path to the cup finals has been there every f***ing year, yet our guys retreat into their own heads and find ways to lose a series. Not an ounce of killer instinct to be found. Losing a series to a good team is nothing to be ashamed of, but that our guys have never found their guts and made the run themselves is what's truly appalling. As they say on Letterkenny, "give your balls a tug"

 

[Petrus]

This is our version of the Stanley cup… except it’s a cup losers! Get your fill from the cup of losers!

We are a dynasty of losers.

 

[kevsh]

A more telling stat maybe that over the past 7 playoffs this team is 1-4 versus lower seeded teams, which wouldn't be so terribly pathetic if they at least had a great record as underdogs themselves ... Nope, a big fat doughnut at 0-3 there.

 

[hoglund]

This is our version of the Stanley cup… except it’s a cup losers! Get your fill from the cup of losers!

We are a dynasty of losers.

All of those years the team that they played had a hot goalie and that helps steak games that you're not necessarily the best team.

 

[banks]

I get why people are so negative in this thread. The odd fact that we lose to teams that go deep could seem like making excuses, or trying to give the team credit they don't deserve.

But people don't need to jump on it this hard. Every team talks about the quality of competition in the playoffs. Florida just punched their ticket to the Final, and there's a thread on the main board talking about how they've had the hardest path to the Cup. They're obviously not making excuses. It's just an expected topic for any team.

It's just a fact that getting out of the Atlantic is a tough gig. Lighten up people.

 

[57 Years No Cup]

I'm sure the stats geeks will spin this as some sort of victory. After all, that xCups%/82 must be pretty high...

 

[chuckt]

Isn't this just a matter of framing?

Four teams lose to the eventual cup winner, and three to the runner up. That puts the Leafs in the top 8.

 

[Kazparov]

There's no silver lining in losing. You either get it done or not.

That being said, seeing Carolina go out in 4, should remind everyone :

1. how hard it is to win in the playoffs even if you're a good team.
2. Shows how one team can catch fire and plays above the sum of their parts. If someone could figure out how to recreate that magic, it would have been done by now.
3. brings some reason back into the overly emotional hot takes here (it won't)

 

[WTFMAN99]

I've just read the title and I just think "Who cares?"

Find a way to be on the other side of the series win for once instead of crying that it's hard.