Nightmare game from Matthews, Marner puts all the pressure back on the Leafs

Thomas Chabot opened the scoring for the Senators, when Tim Stutzle beat Matthews cleanly in the faceoff circle, then tipped the puck over to Brady Tkachuk. Chris Tanev arrived just in time to the faceoff dot, but it was of no consequence once the puck was dropped. Tkachuk tipped the puck over to Chabot, who beat Anthony Stolarz clearly with a wrist shot from the point. Matthews and Tanev both inadvertently screened Stolarz and it’s hard to assign fault to the Maple Leafs’ goaltender, who made several quality saves throughout the contest.

There was some discrepancy between the publicly available stats models on Matthews and Marner’s performances, but you don’t need to parse through the charts to look for positives. It was a winnable game entering the third period, and the Maple Leafs had every opportunity to claw their way back into the contest, on home ice, against a team they finished 11 points ahead of in the standings during the regular season. Senators forward/antagonist Ridly Greig cross-checked Marner into the boards, sending a Maple Leafs’ power play that had scorched their opponents since February back onto the ice. And that’s where Matthews made a critical blunder that will be rendered an afterthought if the Leafs close the series out, but will perhaps live infamously if the impossible, worst-case scenario comes to life.

Matthews tried to reset to the top, a tactic the Maple Leafs used in the second half of the season to great effect. It may have been a decent idea with proven results, but Matthews didn’t get nearly enough velocity on the pass and Adam Gaudette picked it off, racing away on an odd-man rush. William Nylander ran out of gas on the backcheck, while Knies, Matthews and Marner were out of the frame, as Gaudette flicked a pass over to a crashing Dylan Cozens, who beat an outstretched Stolarz for a critical short-handed goal. It was a jaw-dropping blunder from the best forward in the series, and the Maple Leafs finished the rest of the game on a whimper.

“I just tried to find Mitchy up top. Thought we kinda drew them in. Didn’t see the guy there, obviously he picked it off. That’s on me, I have to make a better play,” Matthews explained post-game.

Considering the quality of opponent, the commanding 3-0 series lead which has melted into the thinnest margin possible, and a disappearing act from the team’s headlining stars, you could make a strong argument that this was the worst non-elimination loss of the Matthews-Marner era. It would be unwise to predict impending doom, especially when the Leafs are the most experienced and more talented team, but even with changes to the roster over the years — Tanev, Stolarz and Oliver Ekman-Larsson among others don’t wear the blame for the faults of previous teams — there is a precedent set by Matthews and Marner falling short.

There are still two chances for the Leafs to end the series, and it very well could end up as a honest, tightly-contested, cagey six-game series in which the power play, depth contributions from Ekman-Larsson and Simon Benoit, and strong goaltending may prove to be differentiating factors. Matthews and Marner played well throughout the series, before a nightmare Game 5, which changes the tone and atmosphere heading into Thursday’s all-important game. The pressure is entirely back on the Maple Leafs, as their headlining stars picked an inopportune time to play their worst game of the playoffs, and considering what’s at stake, one of their least effective performances of their careers.

If the Battle of Ontario is a series of smaller conflicts, then the Maple Leafs desperately need their generals to act the part, lest the nightmare devolve into outright dystopia.