Toronto Maple Leafs remain historically awful in series-clinching games
The Toronto Maple Leafs couldn’t finish it off against the Ottawa Senators.
The Leafs missed out on their first sweep since 2001, when they also swept the Senators in the first round. They could’ve been the first NHL team to advance to the second round this year.
Game 4 went to overtime, but the Leafs couldn’t get it done. The Leafs were down 2-0 in the contest before mounting a comeback, but Jake Sanderson finished them off in overtime.
Drake Batherson took a double minor in overtime, which led to a Leafs crucial power play. The Sens managed to kill it off and keep the game alive before later ending it.
“I mean our kill stepped up when we needed them in a do-or-die situation,” said Brady Tkachuk. “What a kill, always your most important killer is the goalie, and [Linus Ulmark] made some unbelievable saves to keep us in that one, and we’re definitely going to enjoy this one, but we know what’s coming.”
Despite the loss, the Leafs remain up 3-1 in the series. They have a commanding lead and were close to pulling off the sweep.
Game 5 takes place back in Toronto on Tuesday. Three of the first four games have gone to overtime as this series has been very closely contested despite the 3-1 Leafs lead.
The Leafs are now 1-13 in closing games in the last 20 years. They’ve struggled to finish opponents. They gave themselves a big lead this year with the 3-0 series lead, but they’ll need to finish the job, and Leafs fans will not celebrate until the job is finished.
When asked about the inability to finish the series, Leafs coach Craig Berube kept a modest mindset.
“Bounces go one way or another,” said Berube. “I am not too concerned about it. I thought our team was ready to go. We did a lot of good things tonight, and it didn’t work out.”
”I don’t think that was the case tonight. I thought our team played extremely hard and did a lot of great things. We gave up four shots in two periods.”
The winner of this series will face off against the winner of the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers series. The Panthers have a 2-1 lead, but it could still go either way.