Much like the majority of the Toronto Maple Leafs fan base, head coach Sheldon Keefe can't seem to wrap his head around his club facing a 3-0 series deficit against the Florida Panthers after its first series win in 19 years.
"Obviously it's felt a lot more like what we've been through in the past. It's been challenging, it's been difficult to understand, yet it's our reality and it's where we're at," Keefe said Monday.
He continued: "It's been a mixed bag in this series so far. At times we've played extremely well and then haven't converted or haven't gotten rewarded for it. At times we've been in control of the game and have given up a lead."
The Leafs offered their worst game of the series Sunday, a 3-2 overtime loss in which they squandered a pair of leads. After controlling play for both contests in Toronto, the Panthers fought back on home ice to own 52.83% of the expected goals and 56.14% of the scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Keefe touched on the differences in effort levels between the two rounds.
"Perhaps most importantly in the Tampa series for us was how resilient we were just to stay with it. Even at times when we were on our heels and the opposition was really coming, we didn't make the big mistake ... Our team found different ways to win in that series, and we have found ways to lose here in this one," Keefe said.
Much of the blame has fallen on the Leafs' core forwards: Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, and John Tavares, who haven't scored this series after carrying the offensive load against the Lightning.
"They've had a lot of scoring chances in this series that haven't fallen, haven't gone their way," Keefe said. "They were dominant, in many ways, in Game 2."
Only four teams in NHL history have come back to win a playoff series after losing the first three games, the most recent being the 2014 Los Angeles Kings.
"It's meant to be hard," Keefe said. "Anything worth achieving is hard."
