TORONTO — Craig Berube paused for a few seconds, seemingly searching for an answer.
The Maple Leafs head coach isn’t known for hesitating. Answers usually come quickly.
And yet as he was asked about the failure of the Leafs’ top line, driven by stars Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, in Game 5 against the Ottawa Senators, he had to search for the words.
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“Yeah, um,” Berube began. “Not enough speed through the neutral zone with that line and then creating things in the offensive zone off that. They were just a little bit late on things and didn’t create enough stoppages in the offensive zone.”
On Tuesday night after a 4-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators, Berube appeared to be grappling with the same question Leafs observers have been struggling to answer since 2018, when this core’s stretch of one win in 13 tries in potential series-deciding games began: With the opportunity to win a series, on home ice no less, how did the two pillars of the franchise come up short — again?
We’re not just talking about the two best Leafs of this generation; these are two of the most offensively potent players in the NHL today. Since they entered the league in 2016-17, Matthews and Marner are each in the top 10 in points per game in the regular season. Matthews has 1.16 points per game in the regular season since entering the NHL, tied with Sidney Crosby over that stretch. Marner is just behind him at 1.13.
And yet with every missed opportunity in a series-clinching game, those stellar numbers become less relevant to their legacies in Toronto.
Yes, the Leafs remain in the driver’s seat of this series, up 3-2 — something both Matthews and Marner reminded the assembled media on Tuesday. And to be sure, Matthews and Marner are a big reason the team still has two more chances to close out this series. The pair have combined for 13 points in the series and has looked dominant at times, including in the Game 4 overtime loss.
But Game 5 was different. Matthews and Marner were stifled offensively and were on the ice for all four Senators goals. The perennial postseason questions were back.
Minutes after leaving the ice on Tuesday, the two players said all the right things, as they usually do. They didn’t sound defeated. Still, it all sounded a bit familiar, as if reading from the script they’ve been using for years.
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“Fine,” Marner quipped when asked about his sense of his Leafs team. “It’s not supposed to be easy. This is never supposed to be easy.”
Also familiar? That the Leafs have not scored on their last seven power-play opportunities in the series.
“We started well, good chances, I thought the execution at times wasn’t there,” Matthews said.
“We’re not looking in the rearview mirror. It’s about the next day, the next game,” he added. “We’re a confident group in here.”
“We’ve been a great road team all year,” Marner said, echoing Matthews. “We have confidence in this group.”
Dejected Toronto Maple Leafs Michael Bunting, Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews after being eliminated by Lightning in 2022. (Steve Russell / Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Confidence is one thing. Results are another. Many in attendance at Scotiabank Arena are losing confidence in the Leafs’ two best players because of a pattern when it comes to the biggest games of their careers.
• In Game 7 against the Boston Bruins in 2018, Matthews and Marner combined for one assist.
• In Game 7 again against the Bruins the following season: zero points.
• The Leafs were shut out against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Game 5 of the qualification round in 2020.
• After building a 3-1 lead in the first round against Montreal in 2021, Matthews and Marner combined for three assists in the final three games.
• Up 3-2 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2022, they combined for one goal and three points in two games.
• One year later, through two opportunities to close out the Lightning, Matthews had two goals and Marner added an assist. The Leafs won that series.
• In Game 7 against Boston last season: one assist between them.
Finally, this year, Matthews and Marner have combined for two assists through Games 4 and 5 against the Senators.
Add it up? In 13 chances to close out a series, they have combined for 13 points.
Of course, Matthews and Marner aren’t alone in going cold in the biggest moments of the playoffs.
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But the way the Leafs are assembled, with Matthews and Marner taking up more than 27 percent of the salary cap, the team’s chances to win decrease markedly when the pair of stars fails to factor. And Toronto really needs a win right now.
As the boos began to rain down in the third period of Game 5, the Leafs doomsday clock ticked a few seconds closer to midnight. Marner is in the final year of his contract and was already approached with an opportunity to be traded to the Carolina Hurricanes ahead of the trade deadline. Optimism around his future in Toronto doesn’t appear high.
Should Marner go to free agency and the Matthews-Marner era ends at the conclusion of this season, performances like Game 5 will be brought up often. Game 5 was another reminder that something seems to be lacking in their approach to the biggest playoff games.
Longstanding fans in Toronto have now seen it more than a dozen times. Berube still appears to be wrapping his head around it.
“It was one-and-done too much for me with that line tonight in the offensive zone,” Berube said.
Thankfully for Matthews and Marner, they still have chances to win the series. Maybe one or both break out in a big way in Game 6. Or Game 7.
“We aren’t losing confidence in here,” Marner said. “It’s never easy to close out a team.”
History would suggest that a breakout for the pair of Leafs stars will be easier said than done.
“We’ve just got to keep staying positive, we’ll look at things we can do better, figure that out and go forward with it,” Marner said.
Thursday night in Ottawa brings one more opportunity to add a second series win to their resumes. One more chance to change the narrative. Until they do that, the weight of past results will crush any positive outlook they offer.
(Top photo: Mark Blinch / NHLI via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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