The Montreal Canadiens pulled off a monumental on Monday night, coming back from a 3-1 series deficit against the rival Toronto Maple Leafs and putting the exclamation point in the form of a Game 7 victory on the road, once again tearing the hearts out of Leafs fans everywhere.
The Leafs have not won a playoff series since 2004, and their streak of failing to win the Stanley Cup has now reached 54 years.
Among the main reasons why Toronto failed to advance? The stunning lack of offensive firepower in the postseason that enabled them to cruise through the regular season. Superstar forward Auston Matthews was held to a single goal, while Mitch Marner failed to find the net.
Team president and alternate governor Brendan Shanahan, a 3-time Stanley Cup winner with the Detroit Red Wings, promised that the team would look different next season – and offered a rather concise diagnosis of his team's issues.
Leafs president Brendan Shanahan: “There's a killer instinct that is missing that we need to address.''
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) June 2, 2021
Naturally, having played with and won multiple championships with some of the greatest players in NHL history, Shanahan certainly knows all about the “killer instinct” that a team needs to be successful.
