By now, I'm sure the Leafs players have fully realized that with how this season ended for them, they could very well see a lot of player and personnel transitions this summer. It sucks, but it's just the reality of the business side of the game. If things aren't working out and if a top team continues to fall short in the playoffs, changes are needed.
One of the key storylines coming out of the Leafs' series against Florida was the officiating and how incompetent the referees had shown themselves to be in certain situations - including in Game 5. The disallowed goal is a separate thing entirely. We can remove that from the equation. The missed elbow from Marc Staal on Mitch Marner, however.. that's a different story. Same goes for Radko Gudas holding Calle Jarnkrok's stick on the game winner. In case you missed that one, it was pretty egregious.
Leafs Nation has trouble pleading their case in situations like these, due to the narrative that exists among other fanbases that Leaf fans are crybabies and excuse-makers. However, this time, fans from other markets have actually backed the frustrations of Leaf fans for how Game 5 ended. One Habs fan, in particular, even called out the NHL publicly on social media for how egregious the holding the stick infraction was on the game winner.
Nothing can be done now, but hopefully this leads to some conversations at the next GM's meetings, which could, in turn, help establish some new rules that could prevent situations like this from occurring in the future. Mandatory play reviews on game-winning playoff goals in OT, for example, could certainly help. Just spit-balling here.
At any rate, when Habs fans are pointing out how bad the optics of something are regarding the Leafs getting screwed, you know the Leafs and their fans have a legitimate reason to feel cheated.
