MacKinnon's quote from last year is very similar to Marner's quote after the Leafs' Game 7 elimination this year

Today, Nathan MacKinnon is in pain once again. Waking up with what I'm sure is a brutal hangover after spending last night celebrating his and the Avalanche's Stanley Cup victory. For a guy that wanted it as badly as MacKinnon, I'm sure he doesn't mind in the least.

This season marked the 6th straight year the Leafs have exited the playoffs in round 1. They were a strong team all season despite shaky goaltending. They gave a complete effort over 7 games against the 2 time defending Stanley Cup Champions. They had all the tools, the big guys stepped up, heck, Jack Campbell even had better stats than Andrei Vasilevskiy. When the dust settled, the result was the same. Not only that, but Mitch Marner's post game 7 availability sounded extremely similar to MacKinnon's.

The Leafs are now in a very similar spot to the one the Avs were in last season. Perennial contenders who haven't been able to break through in the post season. The Avs managed to turn their heartbreaks into fuel for the fire. If the Leafs can do the same, there's no reason they can't find themselves in the same position MacKinnon and the Avalanche are now.