Maple Leafs acknowledge job is far from done after clinching latest playoff berth

Open this photo in gallery:

The Maple Leafs clinched a playoff position with nine regular-season games to go but if there was any celebration over it on Tuesday it was subdued.

Partly that is because there has been no doubt that they would make it – and that the Lightning would be their first-round opponent – for at least two months. Beyond that there is the club’s lack of success in the postseason. Toronto hasn’t won a series since 2004 and in the past seven years has lost four Game 7s, most recently to Tampa Bay in 2022.

Quiet pats on the back were appropriate at the Ford Performance Centre on Tuesday but not much else.

“It is an honour to get in, but we obviously still have work left to do,” Auston Matthews said. “We need to use these last couple of weeks to dial in every part of our game and make sure we are firing on all cylinders. We want to put our foot on the gas, not take a breath.”

The Maple Leafs head into a meeting with Florida at Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday with a healthy lead over the Lightning. The Panthers are three points removed from the second wild-card position so they have to play the rest of the way as though the playoffs have already started.

Toronto’s seven successive postseason berths is its second-longest run since the NHL’s expansion era began in 1967-68 and the fourth longest in franchise history. That is noteworthy and shrug-worthy at the same time.

“We spoke about it briefly today,” said Sheldon Keefe, the head coach. “We are obviously focused on bigger things but you have to qualify for the playoffs before you can do anything else. To that end it was worth acknowledging.

“When you clinch a spot with nine games remaining you have done some good things along the way to put yourself in that position. So we acknowledge that and now we move on.”

In 10 of their past 13 playoff series since 2002, the Maple Leafs have ended up in winner-take-all games, including nine Game 7s. Their active run of five consecutive years in such a showdown is one of only four in NHL history.

It is hoped that the players will learn from those experiences and the accompanying pain but some of it can be added up to bad luck. There has been the occasional bowser – such as blowing a 3-1 series lead to the Canadiens in 2021 – but they have mainly tangled with top teams and come up just a tad short.

“We have to acknowledge that it has been a good year so far,” said Michael Bunting, the forward and chief agitator. “That is what we planned to do but it is just one step. The next is to get home ice and go from there.

“We have to be proud of what we have done but there is a lot of work ahead of us.”

Tampa Bay has won two of the past three Stanley Cups and is not likely to be too concerned about how many games it will have to play as a visitor. That confidence comes with its past success. You would have to give the Lightning the edge there.

But this is easily Toronto’s best team in a long time and it has proved better than the Lightning throughout the season.

“It’s an opponent we know quite well,” Keefe said.

Until you finally win, however, that all sounds like whistling in the graveyard. You have to physically chase away those ghosts of seasons past.

Toronto acquired three players in the off-season or ahead of the trade deadline who have won Stanley Cups – Matt Murray, Ryan O’Reilly and Luke Schenn. That can’t hurt. Perhaps it will end the league’s longest active drought without winning a playoff series.

The good news is that Ilya Samsonov has rejoined the team. The big Russian goalie’s wife, Mariya, gave birth to their first child last week. So far little Miroslav is doing great.

“It has been the best week of my life,” Samsonov said. “I was a bit nervous before he was born. When I first saw him it was a shock but a good shock. The last four days we stayed home together and it was unbelievable. I feel perfect.”

Perhaps the birth of a son will lead to the birth of a Stanley Cup contender.