Leafs are choking their way out of this series, one weak link at a time - G&M
31 May 2021 EWR Online
Toronto Maple Leafs centre Mitch Marner plays the puck against Montreal Canadiens left wing Phillip Danault during Saturday's playoff game. Marner hasn’t scored a goal in six games, Cathal Kelly writes. 'He didn’t score a goal in five playoff games last year. Fifth season; $65-million-dollar deal; two post-seasons; zero goals. That is bad math.' Jean-Yves Ahern/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Since he’s new around these parts, Nick Foligno has never experienced the Maple Leafs during a core meltdown.
Foligno’s a veteran and a lifer who grew up in the game. You’re hard pressed to imagine a situation he hasn’t seen or heard about, at least second-hand. That’s the reason Toronto got him (and Wayne Simmonds, and Joe Thornton, and Zach Bogosian).
They are all there to provide counselling services to colleagues when things go sideways. They’re the designated adults.
And then you see Foligno in the post-game after the Leafs have blown another one. His eyes are like saucers. His thoughts are disconnected. He’s rambling.
After bouncing around for a couple of confusing minutes, Foligno ended with this all-timer: “It’s time for the words to stop, the clichés to stop. It’s Game 7. Time to put it all on the line.”
That’s when you knew. That after losing Game 6 to the Montreal Canadiens, the Leafs are doomed.
You may not know it and I may not know it, but we know the Leafs know it. That idea is dug in like a tick into every head on the Leafs bench.
On the goal that won it in overtime on Saturday night, you could see the thoughts of the culpable Leaf, Travis Dermott, occurring in real time. They were hanging in the air like a thought bubble: “Just don’t lose the puck. Just don’t lose the puck. Just don’t …”
