The 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin on Saturday evening, and that means it’s time to turn our attention to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who are once again facing the most pressure of any team in the field.
They open their postseason on Saturday night against their long-time postseason nemesis, the Boston Bruins. It’s a potential nightmare matchup for the Leafs and their fans — not only because the Bruins have ruined so many postseasons in recent Maple Leafs history, but because Toronto didn’t win 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 are now eight years into this thing, and in the previous seven postseasons have managed to win just a single playoff round (last year) and only one game (total) beyond the first round. That is simply not good enough for a roster that has Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly at the top of it.
One or two playoff disappointments are to be expected over that stretch of time. No matter how good you are, you are not going to win every year. Three or four? Okay, maybe that’s a little unlucky, and the breaks just didn’t go your way or the matchups went against you.
But falling short and disappointing in literally every single postseason? That’s no longer bad luck. That’s no longer in the “sometimes you lose” category. That’s who you are. The Leafs haven’t exactly been racking up division titles or consistently finishing near the top of the league standings, either, and they have always found fresh new ways to lose. They have lost as underdogs, they have lost as favorites, they have lost Game 7s, they have blown series leads and they have been soundly beaten from start to finish. The end result is always the same.
If it doesn’t change this season, it’s long past time to wonder if it ever will.
Odds are from BetMGM and update live. Buy tickets to see your favorite team on StubHub.
How to watch: 5 p.m. ET on TBS, SN360
Key takeaways
It is mildly shocking that the Islanders actually finished with the third spot in the Metropolitan Division when you consider how average they are across the board. They do not rank higher than 18th in the league in goals scored, goals against, power play, penalty kill, shots on goal per game or shots against per game.
The Islanders must stay out of the penalty box in this series. Carolina has the league’s second-best power play (28.9 percent), while the Islanders are last on the penalty kill (71.5 percent).
The Hurricanes’ big flaw in past postseasons has been their lack of an elite offense and lack of elite finishers. This year’s team not only added one of the latter in Jake Guentzel, but is the highest-ranking goal-scoring Hurricanes team of the past six years. Don’t for one second think Guentzel’s production over the year was simply the result of playing next to Sidney Crosby. He has 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in 17 games since joining the Hurricanes.
The upset potential in this series probably rests with the goaltending. The Islanders finished the regular season with the eighth-best all-situations save percentage in the NHL, while the Hurricanes were only middle of the pack at 15th overall. Not a huge difference, but a potentially significant one in a best-of-seven series.
Expert picks for Islanders vs. 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 goalie situation with Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman. The Bruins say they have a plan in place and that both goalies know what it is. Will they ride one starter or continue with their season-long rotation? The goalies will have to be the driving force for the Bruins in the playoffs as this year’s roster does have some flaws, ranging from the lack of a true No. 1 center to the fact they were only 14th in the league in expected goals against per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play (via Natural Stat Trick).
Next: Will regular-season results carry over to the playoffs? Toronto better hope they don’t because the Maple Leafs went 0-4 against the Bruins during the season while being outscored by a 15-7 margin. Only one playoff team (Tampa Bay) had a worse all-situations save percentage than the Maple Leafs this season. The good news for the Lightning is they have a proven championship-caliber goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy to at least count on bouncing back. The Maple Leafs have no such luxury to lean on. Given how good the Bruins duo is, this could be a big issue for the Leafs.
Final note: This series also features two of the top three goal-scorers in the NHL over the past five years. Auston Matthews leads the league during that stretch with 257 goals, while David Pastrnak is third with 216 goals.
Expert picks for Maple Leafs vs. Bruins
(Photo of Auston Matthews: Claus Andersen / Getty Images)
