Toronto Maple Leafs Match Ugly Big 4 Sports History

The Toronto Maple Leafs surprised a lot of people by extending their first-round series of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Boston Bruins to seven games. The Maple Leafs were without their star Auston Matthews for a chunk of the series.

Matthews was dealing with an illness that was bad enough that doctors removed him from the lineup ahead of the third period in Game 4. Down 3-1 in the series, Matthews would miss the following two games.

Despite facing elimination, the Toronto Maple Leafs were able to rally without their best player in the lineup. They won Game 5 on the road before picking up another victory at home in Game 6. Unfortunately, even with Matthews getting back in the lineup for Game 7, their comeback attempt fell short.

That has been a common theme for the franchise in recent years. The team has found plenty of success in the regular season, earning a playoff berth in eight straight seasons. But, none of that success has carried over into the postseason.

In fact, that has led to the Toronto Maple Leafs matching some very ugly playoff history. As shared by OptaSTATS on X, they are the second team in MLB/NBA/NFL/NHL history to make the playoffs for eight straight seasons and win one or fewer playoff rounds over that span. The only other franchise to do so was the Buffalo Sabres from 1988-1995.