Leafs Postgame: Capped Off

It was fun while it lasted. The Toronto Maple Leafs saw their season come to an end tonight, losing 2-1 in overtime to the Washington Capitals in Game 6 of their first-round series against the Presidents Trophy winners. It was an outcome that many ultimately expected at the start of the series but still felt a little short in the end. Here’s what went down:

The game, to be blunt, felt like a constant flow of equal opportunity throughout, with neither team being able to break through and truly have a lethal moment. Any time either team came close to generating a real opportunity. That is, until the luck of the almighty stanchion went their way, leaving Auston Matthews free to do this crazy thing:

Implications aside, moments aside, that’s one of the single best pieces of puck control we’ve seen from Matthews yet or any Leaf in a long time. It put them up when they needed it, too, and it looked like it was going to be a dagger, until..

The lead was cut short by this equalizer from Marcus Johansson, who just managed to eke it through Frederik Andersen’s pads. This set us up for yet another overtime, and, well…

After having to hear about the importance of the Leafs’ faceoff wins for hours from the broadcast, a loss came back to haunt them.

Honestly, it’s hard to say. This was yet another super tight game. Andersen was spectacular. Toronto did its best to generate chances. The series-winning goal came from a thing they were doing well all game not going well that one time. I guess you can blame Martin Marincin for not being hard enough on the puck on both plays, but it also feels a little crazy to put this loss all on him.

It may have just been a game where they got very slightly outplayed by the best, a thought which encapsulates the series.

“The fans, the whole team, etc” would’ve been an easy cop out here that I was prepared to make before puck drop. No chance. Frederik Andersen was spectacular, keeping some scary chances from turning into gut-wrenching goals, and in both of the cases of him conceding, he was only beat by a hair. He showed up when they needed him to; while he couldn’t win the game for the team, he certainly didn’t lose it for them.

This concludes the season for the Leafs, obviously. But it doesn’t conclude our coverage; we’ll be breaking down the series and the season over the coming days and weeks, and we’ll be looking towards the Marlies’ playoff run, the draft, the offseason, and all sorts of other fun things throughout. It’s a 24/7/365 industry, and we’re not going anywhere. Thank you so much for following allow throughout the year; the best is yet to come.