R1, G7: Lightning @ Leafs - May 14th, 7:00pm - CBC, TSN 1050

[Bender]

I?m just gutted right now.  The Leafs put it all on the line there.  Can?t hold it against them. 

One team got a goal called back.  The other team got gifted a 5 on 3 when trailing.  Officiating was shit in this game.  The amount of holding Tampa got away with behind the play was absurd.

The series reffing was garbage. That hit on Bunting should've been something. They gifted Tampa calls last game for them to tie and win the game. It's atrocious. At this point I'm thinking there are enough refs that are as tired as the rest of the league about hearing about the Leafs so they job them.

 

[Kin]

It'll be interesting to see if the chasm between the good teams and the bad teams remains next year. This was just a weird year overall. To get a 110 point defending champ team in the first round was just the sort of wacky nonsense that only happens to the Leafs.

But you might as well laugh about it, right?

 

[herman]

I did have a fun thought back in game 5 if we dropped the series:
Dump every useful sub-Matthews star for a haul of 1sts from a spectrum of teams and soft tank to stack the deck for winning the Connor Bedard sweepstakes.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

This is a completely different feeling than past years. The top players all showed up. We got mostly good goaltending. We got mostly good defence. We outplayed the 2-time reigning Cup champs for most of the series. Including game 7 in my opinion. We lost this one because the bounces didn't go our way, the calls didn't go our way, and we ran into a team that was able to match our elite level hockey in the first round of the playoffs.

The idea of making significant changes to the team (what would that even mean at this point) seems over the top to me. Although I've said this before, I don't necessarily think the team needs to be 100% married to Keefe. Anybody on the team is upgradeable but I'm not convinced there's a GM available that'd be better than Dubas, or a winger available that'd be better than Nylander. But it's somewhat reasonable to think there might be a coach out there available better than Keefe. Trotz, maybe? It's too bad Boudreau didn't hold off on his decision to stay with Vancouver for a bit longer.

 

[Zee]

I did have a fun thought back in game 5 if we dropped the series:
Dump every useful sub-Matthews star for a haul of 1sts from a spectrum of teams and soft tank to stack the deck for winning the Connor Bedard sweepstakes.

Nobody is giving you an unprotected 1st for next year

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I wouldn't be opposed to trying a new head coach.

This was Keefe?s first real full season. He helped the team to their best regular season ever. He wasn?t out coached in this series, either. I think he deserves another one before the axe comes out.

I don't disagree with you, but he needs make them nasty and cynical like the Bolts and other playoff teams.

I don't want to abandon a 115pt team, but they need to be more cynical.

After the Bluejackets swept the Bolts, they came back mean, cynical, nasty and unafraid to cheat.

Killorn laying on the ice and pulling Muzzin's stick out of his hands on Paul's goal for one of about 50 examples this series.

I don't think I'd fire him, but I wouldn't be against it.

Unlikely to happen though unless Dubas is gone too, which I definitely do not want.

 

[hap_leaf]

One team got a goal called back.  The other team got gifted a 5 on 3 when trailing. 

These two right here, changed the series.

Its disappointing, it was a great shot by Tavares, but I heard the whistle clearly on TV, so when it went in I knew it would not count right away. Im sure it was loud at ice level. Sucks but it was the right call.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Problem is when you care too much.  It?s just hockey but it?s physically and mentally not healthy the way I react to this team. 

It's just hockey and in the grand scheme of life, it means little. It's entertainment and I was thoroughly entertained this year. Great year overall.

 

[Kin]

This is a completely different feeling than past years.

It wasn't against a hated rival, it wasn't against a team the Leafs are clearly better than and should wax in 4, they didn't blow a three goal lead in the third....honestly, this isn't even a top 10 playoff disappointment.

You'll have to try harder than that to get me down, Universe.

 

[L K]

One team got a goal called back.  The other team got gifted a 5 on 3 when trailing. 

These two right here, changed the series.

Its disappointing, it was a great shot by Tavares, but I heard the whistle clearly on TV, so when it went in I knew it would not count right away. Im sure it was loud at ice level. Sucks but it was the right call.

We had no idea until saw the penalty box open.  The crowd was going nuts even before the goal

 

[CarltonTheBear]

This is a completely different feeling than past years.

It wasn't against a hated rival, it wasn't against a team the Leafs are clearly better than and should wax in 4, they didn't blow a three goal lead in the third....honestly, this isn't even a top 10 playoff disappointment.

You'll have to try harder than that to get me down, Universe.

This feeling of not being completely and absolutely devastated by a playoff loss is very odd. Maybe it's partially just because I've been numb to it, but I do believe it's mostly because of all that.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

One team got a goal called back.  The other team got gifted a 5 on 3 when trailing.

And then the other didn't get a 5-on-3 while trailing despite a blatant trip on Nylander that the ref clearly witnessed from 4 feet away.

 

[Stronger Than All]

Is it bad I want the Oilers to lose just because we did?

That commentor us such a homer, but we can't have homers on tv.

 

[bustaheims]

This is a completely different feeling than past years. The top players all showed up. We got mostly good goaltending. We got mostly good defence. We outplayed the 2-time reigning Cup champs for most of the series. Including game 7 in my opinion. We lost this one because the bounces didn't go our way, the calls didn't go our way, and we ran into a team that was able to match our elite level hockey in the first round of the playoffs.

The idea of making significant changes to the team (what would that even mean at this point) seems over the top to me. Although I've said this before, I don't necessarily think the team needs to be 100% married to Keefe. Anybody on the team is upgradeable but I'm not convinced there's a GM available that'd be better than Dubas, or a winger available that'd be better than Nylander. But it's somewhat reasonable to think there might be a coach out there available better than Keefe. Trotz, maybe? It's too bad Boudreau didn't hold off on his decision to stay with Vancouver for a bit longer.

Excellent summary. Agree 100%

 

[4EVRLEAFAN]

I can't believe it, nothing less then Dubas maybe Keefe and one of the big contracts will do, time to make changes.

Don?t be a goof.

I'm not being a goof, I'm sick of it, I'm 62 years  old and I'm sick of this, we were the better team again, it should not have gone to game 7 again, up 3-1 last year and 3-2 this year and here we are again. Heads need to roll, period.

You are a goof. This is NOT the same team as the last two years. I?m actually the same age as you and if you actually are a true fan you?d realize this is one of the very best teams the Leafs have ever had. There ARE other great teams you know?just ask Winnipeg and the Flames when the Oilers were crap kicking the rest of the league. There is no easy path to a Cup?.which in saying that, last year WAS the best opportunity the Leafs had in many years. THAT?S the team to be choked at.

Yet here we are again.  Mathews only 4 shots and Marner none, zero, you can't win like that, this team needs changes, period.

 

[BrownRolo]

The team played well but after they didn't score on the third PP I knew it was done. The refs were fine IMO. Biased slightly towards the Lightning but nothing like previous series. That 3rd PP the Leafs got would have drove us crazy if it was the other way around. This loss is on the PP. Again.

 

[bustaheims]

I?m just gutted right now.  The Leafs put it all on the line there.  Can?t hold it against them. 

One team got a goal called back.  The other team got gifted a 5 on 3 when trailing.  Officiating was shit in this game.  The amount of holding Tampa got away with behind the play was absurd.

The series reffing was garbage. That hit on Bunting should've been something. They gifted Tampa calls last game for them to tie and win the game. It's atrocious. At this point I'm thinking there are enough refs that are as tired as the rest of the league about hearing about the Leafs so they job them.

Not just this series. Around the league, it?s atrocious. Been going steadily downhill for the last 20 years, and nothing seems to be getting done to fix it.

 

[gunnar36]

I have a strong feeling that captaincy will be handed over to Matthews for start of next season.

 

[Kin]

Yet here we are again.  Mathews only 4 shots and Marner none, zero, you can't win like that, this team needs changes, period.

4 shots a game is basically league leading territory.

 

[TBLeafer]

This is a completely different feeling than past years. The top players all showed up. We got mostly good goaltending. We got mostly good defence. We outplayed the 2-time reigning Cup champs for most of the series. Including game 7 in my opinion. We lost this one because the bounces didn't go our way, the calls didn't go our way, and we ran into a team that was able to match our elite level hockey in the first round of the playoffs.

The idea of making significant changes to the team (what would that even mean at this point) seems over the top to me. Although I've said this before, I don't necessarily think the team needs to be 100% married to Keefe. Anybody on the team is upgradeable but I'm not convinced there's a GM available that'd be better than Dubas, or a winger available that'd be better than Nylander. But it's somewhat reasonable to think there might be a coach out there available better than Keefe. Trotz, maybe? It's too bad Boudreau didn't hold off on his decision to stay with Vancouver for a bit longer.

Excellent summary. Agree 100%

I used to be a forum moderator on a Leafs site now closed.

Would like to be involved more here in chat but just can't bring myself to it until the Leafs actually win a playoff series.

For whatever reason, they just can't put that final nail in the coffin of another team, after 10 consecutive tries. Full stop.

I'll never stop being a Leafs fan, but excuse time for why it didn't happen is over.

Just. Get. It. Done. 2023.