The 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Saturday night, which means it’s time to turn our attention to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who once again face the most pressure of any team on the field.
They open their playoffs Saturday night against their longtime foe, the Boston Bruins. This is a potentially nightmarish matchup for the Leafs and their fans – not only because the Bruins have wasted so many playoff series in recent Maple Leafs history, but also because Toronto hasn’t won a single game in the regular season series.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s make-or-break time for this Maple Leafs core. They have now been in this business for eight years, and in the previous seven playoff series, they have only managed to win one playoff round (last year) and only one game (total) beyond the first round. That’s just not good enough for a roster that has Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly leading the way.
Expect one or two playoff disappointments during this period. No matter how good you are, you won’t win every year. Three or four? Okay, maybe it’s a bit unlucky, and the breaks just haven’t gone your way or the confrontations have gone against you.
But failure and disappointment in every playoff series? It’s not bad luck anymore. This no longer falls into the “sometimes you lose” category. It’s who you are. The Leafs also didn’t rack up division titles or consistently finish atop the league standings, and they always found new ways to lose. They lost as an underdog, they lost as a favorite, they lost Game 7s, they lost series leads, and they were beat from start to finish. The end result is always the same.
If that doesn’t change this season, it’s high time to wonder if it ever will.
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How to watch: 5 p.m. ET on TBS, SN360
Key takeaways
It’s slightly shocking that the Islanders finished in third place in the Metropolitan Division when you consider their average across the board. They rank no higher than 18th in the league in goals scored, goals against, power play, shots on goal, shots on goal per game or shots against per game.
The Islanders need to stay out of the penalty box in this series. Carolina has the second-best power play in the league (28.9 percent), while the Islanders are last in penalty killing (71.5 percent).
The Hurricanes’ big flaw over the past few playoffs has been their lack of elite offense and lack of elite finishers. This year’s team not only added one of the latter, Jake Guentzel, but is also the highest-ranked Hurricanes team in goals over the last six years. Don’t think for a second that Guentzel’s production during the year was simply a result of his play alongside Sidney Crosby. He has 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in 17 games since joining the Hurricanes.
The potential for an upset in this series likely rests with the goaltending. The Islanders finished the regular season with the eighth-best all-situation save percentage in the NHL, while the Hurricanes were only middle of the pack, 15th overall. Not a huge difference, but potentially significant in a best-of-seven series.
Expert Picks for Islanders Against Hurricanes
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Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins — Game 1
How to watch: 8 p.m. ET on TBS, SN
Key takeaways
The biggest storyline to watch here will be how the Bruins handle their goaltending situation with Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman. The Bruins say they have a plan in place and both goalies know what it is. Will they roll with a starter or continue their rotation throughout the season? Goaltending will need to be the driving force for the Bruins in the playoffs, as this year’s roster has some flaws, ranging from the lack of a true No. 1 center to the fact that they were only 14th in the league for expected goals per game. 60 minutes of 5v5 play (via Natural Stats Trick).
Next: Will regular season results carry over to the playoffs? Toronto better hope not, as the Maple Leafs have gone 0-4 against the Bruins on the season while being outscored by a margin of 15-7. Only one team in the playoffs (Tampa Bay) had a worse save percentage in all situations than the Maple Leafs this season. The good news for the Lightning is that they have a proven championship-caliber goaltender in Andrei Vasilevskiy to at least rely on rebounding. The Maple Leafs have no such luxury to fall back on. Considering how good the Bruins duo is, this could be a big problem for the Leafs.
Final Note: This series also features two of the NHL’s top three scorers over the last five years. Auston Matthews leads the league during this streak with 257 goals, while David Pastrnak is third with 216 goals.
Expert picks for Maple Leafs vs. Bruins
(Auston Matthews Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images)