The Toronto Maple Leafs are currently in the playoffs at this moment facing the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round of playoffs for the second time. The Maple Leafs lost to the Lightning last year in the first round in 7 games.
The gossip that has been going around is if the Toronto Maple Leafs can finally make it past the first round in the playoffs.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have won 13 Total Stanley Cups and their first one was in the 1917-1918 season.
Going back into 2016 the Maple Leafs were supposed to start turning the corner after drafting 3 Elite players. The Maple Leafs drafted Auston Mathews, Mitchell Marner, and William Nylander.
These three-star players gave Maple Leaf fans hope again and brought them back to contender status.
The Maple Leafs always finish high in the standings in the regular season and make it to the playoffs every year with those three players but when the Maple Leafs are in the playoffs, they cannot find a way to win in the first round in a best of 7 series.
In the first game of the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning the Maple Leafs looked slow and not prepared for the game after taking a rough loss 7-3.
The Leafs are now winning the series 2-1 after a overtime winning goal in Tampa Bay. The maple Leafs problem isn’t that they are not putting the pressure on the opposing team.
Their problem is that they are not finishing out strong. Five out of there six appearances in the playoffs the maple Leafs lead the series but somehow find the way to lose the rest of the games.
In the beginning of the season the Leafs had some trouble trying to find out their true number one goalie. Their goalie is Ilya Samsonov. Samsonov had a great regular season with 42 games played with a record of 27-10-5 with a 92% shot save percentage and only 2.33 goals allowed.
One thing that Maple Leafs have improved to get back into the playoffs is by getting more depth and role players on the team.
The Leafs started there scouting in the offseason and picked up Zach Aston-Rreese with a one-year deal and he has been a successful role player for the Leafs.
The Leafs did not stop there they also picked players that have many playoff experience right before the trade deadline.
They picked up Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari from the St.Louis Blues. They both have been in the playoffs many times and they have also won a Stanley Cup for the St, Louis Blues in 2019.
The Maple Leafs are young and have many players that can help them win a Stanley cup. They just need to find ways to not give up the series lead and finally throw that knockout punch to get past the first round.