The 2024 Maple Leafs enter the playoffs like the 2021 Canadiens

The NHL playoffs kick off this Saturday. In the East, we already know the identities of the four first-round match-ups, so we know that the Toronto Maple Leafs will face the Boston Bruins.

Poor Toronto fans will be reunited with the team that has given them hell in the playoffs in recent years.

That said, Toronto’s season finale wasn’t exactly a huge success, as the club lost its final four games of the season outright.

Momentum enthusiasts will say that the Leafs don’t exactly have it, right now.

On the other hand, in Toronto, we’re motivating ourselves as best we can… and today’s motivation comes from Sportsnet, which reported that the last club to enter the playoffs after a run of four consecutive losses was the 2021 Canadiens.

Remember that this was the edition that reached the Stanley Cup Final, notably by overcoming a 1-3 deficit in the series against the Maple Leafs in the first round.

In Toronto, we remember that team quite well.

Naysayers will say that, unlike the Canadiens of 2021, the Maple Leafs of 2024 won’t have an easy opponent in the first round. But there’s a big difference between facing Jack Campbell and facing a tandem led by Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman.

Last year, however, the Bruins were eliminated in the first round despite being heavy favourites against the Florida Panthers after a season that brought the Presidents’ Trophy back to Boston.

On the other hand, recent history suggests that the Bruins have a good chance of reaching the final.

We’ll see if the Maple Leafs can match the Habs’ playoff run in 2021, but considering the almost surreal nature of the Tricolore’s, Toronto better be ready to match their Montreal rival.

Especially since, in the regular season, the Leafs maintained a 0-2-2 record against the Bruins…

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A spectacular comeback by the Montreal teamhttps://t.co/W9MI9KlQoE

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) April 19, 2024

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