Mikhail Sergachev destroys Maple Leafs after first series win in 19 years

At the start of the latest playoffs, field hockey fans around the world were all asking one question in particular.

Would the Leafs finally make it past the first round?

The Toronto team, led by its star players, was finally able to take that long-sought step in the Queen City. The Leafs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning to book their place in the second round of the playoffs, a feat not achieved since 2004.

The Leafs “achieved the unattainable” by clinching the right to play in the second round… But the team hit a wall against the Florida Panthers. #WeWantFlorida

But Tampa Bay still seems bitter about the club’s early elimination. Let’s not forget that the Lightning were looking for their fourth Stanley Cup Final in a row, and in the end, their journey came to an abrupt end…

And even though the team’s elimination was by the book, Mikhail Sergachev said in an interview with a Russian media outlet (Sport24) that the Leafs didn’t deserve to go through to the next round :

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Wow. It reminds me of Nikita Kucherov, who said out loud that the CH didn’t deserve to be in the Stanley Cup final after the club’s elimination in the summer of 2021…

Personally, I don’t like the CH alumnus’s intense outburst. In particular, he thinks the club doesn’t deserve credit because the Lightning played better than the Maple Leafs.

Wow, Toronto wins a series in 19 years and loses immediately after. They don’t deserve credit.

No other club could celebrate that. – Mikhail Sergachev

The Lightning lost to a very, very talented team. Perhaps, yes, the odds were in Toronto’s favor. But in the end, his team lost and no one will ever change that.

Learn to win when it’s time… But also learn to lose when it’s time. It’s a value that my parents have passed on to me since I started playing field hockey many years ago.

Of course, the success of recent seasons plays a role in the perception of the Lightning players… But just because they were eliminated doesn’t mean the Leafs didn’t deserve to go through to the next round.

They did what they had to do… And, more importantly, they found a way to eliminate the club that had won two Stanley Cups in three years.

That’s no mean feat.

In a row

– The favorite player of many kids of the 2000s.

– Sometimes it’s important to realize that.

– Still.

– Darn.

– For sure.