Leafs Once Again Wonder What Went Wrong
Posted March 28, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
After being eliminated from playoff contention for the third straight year, the Toronto Maple Leafs had little to be enthusiastic about as they went through the motions at a lethargic practice Friday.
Some players left the ice after just 30 minutes of skating, and the team wore a collectively long face.
“There’s anger and frustration and disappointment,” admitted head coach Paul Maurice.
Thursday night’s loss was especially devastating to Leafs captain Mats Sundin, who refused to waive his no-trade clause, hoping to lead the Buds to victory.
“It’s disappointing we didn’t learn from the previous two years that we need to come out with a stronger effort up until Christmas,” said Sundin. “Both the last two years we missed the playoffs we had very similar seasons to the one we had this year where we struggled to Christmas and then we kind of realized the urgency, it seems like, or for some reason played a lot better after Christmas, but a little too late.
“We didn’t learn the lesson from the previous two years and we ended up in the same situation this year so…there’s going to be changes for all of us. We know that. Whoever comes in here is going to look at this team and, obviously, there’s going to be a lot of things going on from now on.”
The Leafs now have try to get up for insignificant games against Montreal in Toronto Saturday, followed by matches against the rival Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators.
Even though they have little to play for but pride, Sundin vowed that they would come out hard.
“We owe that to our fans who have gone through the tough times with us.”
“It’s hard on everybody,” added forward Matt Stajan. “You work hard all year and fight to get to the playoffs and when it’s over you look back on it and see where you went wrong.
“We fought and battled our way back. We were playing meaningful games pretty much right to the end and never gave up. We win the two games this week (against Boston) and we’re right there. Unfortunately, we didn’t.”
