Teams that had unusually challenging roads to the cup across multiple years.

[Nerowoy nora tolad]

I do think to some extent people are forgetting what a murderers row of teams the leafs have faced in the playoffs in the Mathews/Marner era:

-Washington one year away from winning the cup
-2018 Bruins, 112 points, fourth in the league, and only 5 points from the president's trophy
-2019 Bruins, again tied for second in the league, and good enough to go to game 7 of the cup finals after being down 3-2to the leafs.
-A nasty, physical Torts style team in Columbus, in a best of five series, because weird bubble rules.
-2021 Canadiens. Yeah, I know.
-The defending Stanley Cup Champs that went to the finals that year after knocking out the leafs.
-The leafs finally snap the streak of 3 years in the cup finals for the Lightning in round 1, then lose to the cup finalist Panthers, who are again, one year away from winning the cup (sound familiar?).
-Bruins again, still tied for fifth in the league in points.
-Wild Card Sens in round 1, really the first playoff opponent in years that shouldn't pose much threat at all. And then losing in seven to the defending champ Panthers, who the Leafs nearly have a 3-0 series lead on, and an absolute wagon of a team that only lost 2 other games to anybody else in the east on the way to the finals.

*If I'm the leafs GM in 2017 and you show me that list, I'd say there's a pretty good chance we're f***ed unless we build a flawless team that's a lock for the cup. I
Sure, they're butter soft, and they fall apart under pressure, but if they were in any other division they'd probably have gone to two or three CFs and probably a SCF by now.

Inspired in a different thread about the current dilemma of the leafs, obviously they are a flawed team that needs some changes, but damn, if they haven't had a nightmarish list of playoff opponents each year, particularly facing opponents in the top five and sometimes even top three teams in the league, in the first and second rounds.

What are some other examples of teams that had a somewhat unlucky draw in terms of very powerful early playoff opponents over a stretch of 5-10 years? I seem to recall that this was noted about the 1974-1981 LA Kings and the 1983-1990 Winnipeg Jets.

Is there also any merit to the idea that a team in that situation might struggle to develop as a playoff team when their sum total of playoff experience is limited by facing such powerful opponents early in the playoffs and playing relatively few games? A good example of the inverse might be a team like the 80s Blackhawks who had less pressure and seemed more accomplished by going to multiple conference finals in a bad Norris division.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

The Pronger/Macinnis era Blues perhaps?

Game 7, 2nd round loss to the Red Wings in 1996, then in the 1st round in 1997, and again in the 2nd in 1998. In 1999 they avoided the Wings but lost to the eventual champion Stars in the 2nd round.

In 2000 they’d won the President’s Trophy on the back of Pronger’s Hart season, however were upset by the Sharks in the first round. In 2001 they finally make it past the 2nd round, sweeping the Stars, however then they ran into the mighty Avs. In 2002, they once again face the Red Wings in one of the latter’s Cup runs, another 2nd round loss.

They round out the dead puck era with first round losses to the West Coast Express and the Sharks respectively, two teams they finished behind in the standings.

 

[MadLuke]

Those Quenneville Blues (that spent among the most if not close to the most some years, had Pronger/Macinnis) is one of the best long sustained team to never reach the final.

MacInnis get injured in 2004, so no chance, prime Pronger 98 to 2003, they went 260 wins for 153 lost behind only the Wings-Stars-Devils-Avs.

Ottawa/Flyers would reach teh finals just before or just after tha for the 2 other big teams of that era, but those blues did loose to a bunch of great teams.

They did loose to Owen Nolan getting in fire Sharks and a Dan Cloutier Canucks, so no excuse either (same for the Leafs example) and did had an ownership that spent money like the competition, but we can acknowledge they had it hard in a division with those Stars-Wings-Avs of the time.

 

[GlitchMarner]

As a Leafs fan, the thing that really irritates me about the top players on the team is how poorly they handle pressure when the stakes are the highest they can be.

Yes, they have talent and are much more competitive than some give them credit for, but the way they constantly flame out in Games Sevens and fail to finish teams off when they have them on the ropes before then has become insufferable for fans and downright pathetic.

If they're good enough to play solid hockey when down 3-1 or 3-2 and to force a seventh game, then why the f*** can't they have a strong showing in a Game Seven or ever win one? It has to be a psychological or emotional thing or have to do with character flaws or simply not wanting it as much as the opposition. How many times can you be unlucky?

In many of these series they've had during the Matthews era, they had multiple chances to finish the job (they led BOS 3-2 in 2019, led MTL 3-1 in 2021, led TB 3-2 in 2022). This year, they led FLA two games to none and led Game Three 2-0 and then 3-1. If they had won that game, they would have taken the series. They lack a killer instinct.

Yet they have shown the ability to be resilient a number of times, They came back from 3-1 down against BOS to force a seventh game in 2018, they scored three goals in the last three or four minutes in Game Four against CLB to force OT (which they won) in 2020, they forced a Game Seven against BOS last year after going down 3-1 in the series and they surprisingly shut FLA out this year in the sixth game to force another Game Seven. So these guys can win when they have to, but when the pressure is at its highest, they crumble.