cowboy82nd
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Doesn't EVERY team have injuries during the playoffs??
Do the Leafs get more credit in hindsight for taking the Panthers to 7 games?
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Doesn't EVERY team have injuries during the playoffs??
I don't think you are right, I don't think you are right even 52% of the time.
But props for staying in there, if the Core 4 battled as hard as you are in this thread, then maybe we are talking about the Leafs on the brink of getting back to the SCF.
Again, you are speaking as if the Leafs are up 2-0 in games, and 3-1 in Game 3, with Stolarz playing 30 minutes of Game 1 only. You cant assume everything is the same because it fits your narrative
You cant say shit because the only >>>FACTS<<< anyone has is that the Leafs were winning 30 minutes into Game 1, period.
KCC
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At the end of the day it doesn't matter. They lost. And that's the most important result. No different than the Panthers blowing a 3-0 series lead last year in the finals and almost completing the worst choke job in NHL history. They found a way and no one will remember or care that it took 7 games.
It A LOT of heart. Not all heart, but you have to show something if you want your teammates to respect you, and be there for you. Who is going to listen to Marner when he is screaming at everyone else, when he spins away from contact, to make a no look backhand pass, resulting in a Panthers goal? Who is going to listen to Nylander when he takes the puck in, loses it alone the boards, and just skates by his teammates who are battling along the boards for the puck, so he can glide back to the bench for a change?
We dont know what happens in the series if Stolarz is playing, but we do know for how many years now, that the core players have ZERO heart, desire, or will to make the dirty plays required to win. This isnt the job of the bottom six, this is everyones job in the playoffs. This isnt nothing new, its always been like that. Until they show any desire to make the plays required to in the playoffs, they will never win anything more than a round or two in a single playoff run.
The Gr8 Dane
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Its pretty obvious but he his highly protected , alot of toronto fans hate his guts but he gets a free pass in the media
Fatass
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Yup. The players will not use injuries as an excuse. We fans do. Some Leafs fans use having to play Woll their #2 as an excuse. Some Van fans use having to play Silovs their #3 as an excuse for losing in 7 to the Oilers in 2024.
Fact is all clubs have injuries. The ones that win make no excuses and play through it.
robertmac43
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cvaicunas
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You're right OP, it looks like a fluke, we need to redo that game 7 series after this series ends and will really see who the winner should be now.
He will be the next one we run out of town.. lol
Just give it a few years when the leafs re-tool and yet have the same issues come playoffs.
RevengeOfTheDrai
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But if they say mean things about him, Matthews might leave!. It’s in the best interest of Leaf Fans to only praise, not criticize their franchise player, so Matthews feels welcome and accepted, then resigns and becomes a Leaf for life.
Sheppy
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I feel like every season the Leafs look for every little moral victory they can.
The Gr8 Dane
L'harceleur
Nobody is running anybody out of town in Toronto lol , pretty easy market to play in
Enga Olly
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Florida also dismantled Tampa Bay - but I understand the haters would sooner gouge out their eyes than admit TML are a very good hockey club, that given a slightly altered path, would have been Stanley Cup Finalists in numerous seasons for the past 10 years. Fact is the Leafs "choked" 2 years of this 9 season run. All the others were long series losing to very good teams and a 5 game series where Bobrovsky stole the show. That's the reality, Haters invent their own story - people love their lies.
My read on it is that Toronto (and by some extension, TB) is not so much bad or inadequate as much as the Panthers are just really good. But that doesn’t really excuse the shortcomings that core has had and it’s not a great excuse to run it back. Maybe if you lose in 7 in the ECF, but the Leafs still weren’t even halfway there.
Honestly, it’s amazing the Atlantic teams have been so successful. That division is really the toughest gauntlet to run in the playoffs. Basically all of the non wild card teams have been conference finals level for the past 8-10 years with only a couple of exceptions.
Honestly, it’s amazing the Atlantic teams have been so successful. That division is really the toughest gauntlet to run in the playoffs. Basically all of the non wild card teams have been conference finals level for the past 8-10 years with only a couple of exceptions.
Hard to really say they dismantled Tampa. Aside from game 1, every game was really close. Game 2 was a 1-0 game until the empty netter and TB missed a few open nets. TB beat up on FLA in game 3 and were minutes away from winning game 4. They were neck and neck for almost all of game 5. Not to mention TB was a lot more beat up. But credit to Toronto, they were a really good team this year, I just think they’d benefit much more from spreading out their cap space than concentrating so much of it up top. Stolarz injury was unfortunate too.
Jimmy Apollo
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I don't think people realize that one 10 million dollar contract is guaranteed to cut nearly in half this off season, and the cap is going up. We can pay every player the exact same money, give Tavares the 5-6 million, and still have like 20 million for some decent guys assuming we do SOMETHING about the 10 million dollar sinkhole in the bottom 6 and the nearly 10 million dollar sinkhole in Rielly.
I really like Rielly, too. He's just never been great defensively, and has gotten way too slow and was never quite skilled enough to be an offensive d-man in 2025.
sampollock
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Enga Olly
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You make a good point - because I will always counter when it comes to hating on the Leafs and mocking their 7th game losses, aside from this year where they got smoked in the 7th game, those other seventh game losses where 1 goal losses, close games. Haters refuse to give credit and will always say they "choked". I never saw losing in 7 games and losing in OT as a choke.
Losing in 5 games seems like you where never in the series, but not all losses are equal. Again 2 years ago Leafs losing in 5 to Florida - there were close games in the mix. HFboards is riddled with shit talkers, insincere haters and adult men with a teenage boy mentality
Leafs have 25 million, need to sign Tavares and Knies, or just Knies, and add like 5 or 6 forwards, depending on if Tavares stays.
sampollock
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fancy dan
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PLAN THE HYPOTHETICAL PARADE! RAISE THAT HYPOTHETICAL BANNER. GIVE MITCHY THE CONN SMYTH!
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thebeernerd
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Not really, no. They still couldn't win a Game 7 and looked totally mentally rattled in the process. I thought Craig Berube could cut through that mental malaise but I was wrong.
The Buffalo Sabres have made a ECF more recently than the Leafs, for God's sake.
The Buffalo Sabres have made a ECF more recently than the Leafs, for God's sake.
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