The Toronto Maple Leafs will be heading to the postseason for the eighth straight year. They clinched their spot in the 2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs thanks to some out-of-town final scores.
The Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals both lost 4–2 in regulation against the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes, respectively, and the Detroit Red Wings lost 4–3 in regulation to the New York Rangers.
Toronto becomes the third team in the Atlantic Division and the fifth team in the Eastern Conference to book their ticket. The Tampa Bay Lightning also clinched shortly after due to the three regulation losses, which was the required outcome for them to clinch as well.
Toronto’s weird year
Saying a lot has happened this year would be an understatement. The Leafs could finish the year with eleven defencemen playing over 200 minutes and they’ve had three different goalies play 20 games.
They re-signed William Nylander midseason, played two incredible games in Sweden, and have a 60-goal scorer.
Resilience has been a key all season. With both of their regular goalies absent and half the D-core hurt after New Year’s, somehow the Leafs played some of their best hockey.
There have been several stretches where Toronto has looked horrible—the 9–3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres followed by losses to the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets stands out—but they’ve picked themselves up every time.
What’s left for the Leafs to play for
Barring anything shocking happening, the Leafs can only move one spot in the standings, and that would be dropping from third in the Atlantic to the first wild card spot.
They sit two points up with one game in hand on the Tampa Bay Lightning, who own that wild card spot, and the two teams will face each other twice to end the regular season.
With the way the standings are shaping up, Toronto is most likely going to play the Boston Bruins or the Florida Panthers in the first round. The Lightning will face whichever one isn’t playing the Leafs.
A historic season from Auston Matthews
On March 30, Auston Matthews became just the ninth player in NHL history to score 60 goals in multiple seasons. If he can score seven more in the Leafs’ last seven games, he could be the first player since 1992–93 to score 70.
Matthews started the season with a bang, becoming the first player in league history to score back-to-back hat tricks in the first two games of the year.
He’s re-established himself as the world’s best goal scorer after a “down” season with only 40 goals) last year.
This is probably Sheldon Keefe’s last chance
If head coach Sheldon Keefe wants to keep his job, he’s probably going to have to lead the Leafs on a deep playoff run. Another first-round exit will surely be the end of his time in Toronto. A noncompetitive second-round loss will probably mean the same.
Keefe owns the highest regular season win percentage in NHL history for coaches with over 200 wins, and was the second fastest ever to hit 200. But as we all know, the regular season success has not translated to the postseason.
A trip to the conference final or better will net Keefe a new contract. Anything else will probably have him coaching somewhere else next year.
Time to fight the demons
Whether it’s the Boston Bruins or Florida Panthers in the first round, the Leafs are going to have to go through someone who’s eliminated them from the playoffs recently. The Leafs aren’t exactly the best at overcoming their demons, but this feels like a make-or-break year.
The team feels a lot different this season, there’s no doubt about that. Added toughness and heart can’t really be measured, but it has definitely been felt. Maybe this is the year the Leafs finally get over the hurdle.
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