After 40 minutes, the Leafs are down 3-0 to the Bruins just a couple of days after Brad Marchand skated past the Maple Leafs' bench in Game 3 to declare "it's over in five", referencing the number of games it will take the Bruins to dispatch of the Leafs in Round 1.
You'd think that the Leafs would have come out with a much more inspired effort on Saturday night on home ice at Scotiabank Arena, but what we witnessed through the first two periods was a disconnected group who seems frustrated with one another right now. That was never more apparent than during this interaction between Matthews, Marner and Nylander in the 2nd period.
Is there a disconnect in the locker room? Maybe, but for all the talk about what a tight-knit group this is, it's more likely that they're simply trying to cut through the on-ice B.S. and find something that works, because the effort just hasn't been there tonight.
It's strange, though, that we hadn't seen any of these types or interactions between the Leafs' core players all year until the day after Elliotte Friedman mentions that trading Mitch Marner is a legitimate possibility for the Leafs. Makes you wonder.
POLL | ||
AVRIL 27 | 1130 ANSWERS Matthews, Marner and Nylander get heated with one another on the bench Do you think the Core 4 will all be back in Toronto next season? | ||
Yes | 152 | 13.5 % |
No | 978 | 86.5 % |
List of polls |