What I'm getting at is the Leafs playoff position and opponent has been a lock at this point for a few months. The outcome of the rest of the season has pretty much no impact on the outcome on the Leafs in the playoffs - other than home ice advantage, which isn't nothing, but the Leafs are going to have to win games in Tampa one way or the other to win the series. Tampa has even starting to bench their star players mid game
I don't disagree that it would be better for the team to look better over the last few weeks of the season. But ultimately what matters is how they play game 1 in April.