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The Toronto Maple Leafs have an issue, and it is something that they cannot get around because of the current Stanley Cup Playoff format. They struggle to win in their own division, no matter how strong or how weak the opposition.
The Leafs have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL since the All-Star break and were coming off a strong performance in a 4-3 shootout victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday, but against a short-handed and defensively struggling Boston Bruins, they put forth a weak and small performance in a 4-1 loss at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.
Toronto had an opportunity with two games in hand and a pair of meetings against Boston this week to close a six-point gap for second place in the Atlantic Division, but Boston suffocated the Leafs for nearly all the game, taking a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes before John Tavares scored their only goal in the third.
"They are a premier team in the league. Every night that you play them, you are in for a tough night. It was exactly what we expected in that sense. Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said after the game. “Boston played hard. They defended their net extremely well. I thought they were better than us in that area for sure. When they make good on their chances and we don’t make good on ours, you tend to overanalyze the game and over-emphasize the negative. We did a lot of good things today, but you can’t just do good things and expect to beat a team like Boston. You have to do great things. You have to be ultra-competitive. You have to be great on special teams. A lot of things need to line up. There weren’t enough of those for us tonight.”
The issue for Keefe and his club is that the lack of an ultra-competitive effort seems to be common against the majority of their division foes. The most success the Leafs have had in the Atlantic is against the Lightning and Canadiens (who they are a collective 3-0 against), but in each of their victories, they came back from multiple goal deficits to win in overtime or shootout). Against the rest of the Atlantic, they are 3-8-2, and in the two of the three wins and a shootout loss, they got spectacular goaltending efforts from Joseph Woll and Ilya Samsonov.
Ottawa 1-3 (superb performance by Joseph Woll and Martin Jones in Ottawa for only win)
Montreal 1-0 (late comeback won in shootout)
Boston 0-1-2 (great performance by Samsonov is shootout loss in Boston)
Buffalo 0-2 (the norm)
Florida 1-1 (superb performance by Woll in shootout win)
Tampa Bay 2-0 (both comebacks won in OT)
Detroit 1-1 (win in Sweden, loss in Detroit)
This fact cannot be ignored, since the Leafs will likely play either the Bruins or Panthers in the first round, and both clubs will undoubtedly get stronger with roster additions before Friday’s trade deadline, but this issue is something that GM Brad Treliving needs to address and rectify going forward. Toronto in most of their losses is second in intensity and physicality, which was apparent in the loss to the Bruins.
Unless the NHL changes its current playoff format, the way to the postseason promised land goes through Boston or Florida for the next few seasons. Those teams do not seem to have an issue of rising to the occasion against the Leafs. The same cannot be said for Toronto.
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
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