Tampa Bay Lightning center Ross Colton celebrates as he scores a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Amalie Arena on May 8.Kim Klement/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Look around the NHL. With one or possibly two exceptions, each playoff series is close. The curious thing is that most of the games have not been.
The Oilers beat the Kings 8-2 and lost to them 4-0. The Panthers defeated the Capitals 5-1 and lost 6-1. The Hurricanes beat the Bruins 5-1 and lost 5-2. Every other night the Maple Leafs and Lightning clobber each other.
The latest was a 7-3 Tampa Bay triumph on Sunday that evened the first-round matchup at two wins each. To this point the Atlantic Division rivals have traded lopsided victories.
“Usually there is a plethora of overtime games and everything is a nail-biter,” Jon Cooper, the Lightning’s coach, said Wednesday before his team boarded a flight to Ontario. “These seem to be decided in the first period. You could turn them off after the first period.
“You would think it would be different. It is a little perplexing that they have been so one-sided.”
On Tuesday Tampa Bay has a chance to change the narrative in Game 5 at Scotiabank Arena. As in a tight tennis match, everything could change with one broken serve.
With a win, the Lightning would have an opportunity to close out the match at Amalie Arena on Thursday. If they hold serve, the same is true for the Maple Leafs. If a seventh game is needed – and that does not look unlikely – it will be in Toronto on Saturday.
They are tied but the difference is that one has proved to be very good at this and the other has not. Tampa Bay has won two consecutive Stanley Cups, has reached the Eastern Conference final five times in six years and has now won its past 17 games following a loss.
When presented an opportunity to go up by two games in the postseason, the Maple Leafs become Medusa. They are one for the past nine. This helps explain why they have been unable to win a playoff series since 2004.
If there is no second round, there is no way to capture the Stanley Cup. Which is something Toronto has not accomplished since Elvis Presley was still the King.
Fans are very aware of this, which is why they are fraught over a series that is tied and, with a home-ice advantage, perhaps even leans the Buds’ way.
Social media was alive on Monday with panicking Toronto fans. The dominant theme was Here We Go Again, unless it was that Something Must Be Done about Justin Holl and John Tavares. The defenceman was turfed for a goal 60 seconds into Game 4 and the captain has been noticeably unnoticeable so far.
You know that is the case when Tavares and all around him talk about the hard work he puts in and all of the other good things he does when he is not scoring.
Certainly all isn’t lost. But this is a very peculiar postseason.
“It is an aberration to me,” Cooper said. “In a sport that has the greatest two months of playoff action that any sports can deliver, this is probably one of the more underwhelming playoffs that we have seen.”
If Toronto wins the series, it will be hailed as a turning point for a franchise with plenty of dough and little to show for it for more than a half-century. After Sunday’s embarrassment, however, it makes one wonder if the heart and the hunger that is necessary exists. And if true, what does that foretell for the near future.
If Toronto loses, though, it will be to a more experienced if not necessary greatly more talented team.
“I give the guys credit,” Cooper said. “There aren’t that many repeat winners. Some teams win and then take a breath. For whatever reason the group we have has found a way to bond together and not take that breath.
“This group has a little bit of swag to it and a lot of pride and that helps us out.”