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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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TORONTO – The Maple Leafs had their chance to advance in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They just didn't take advantage of it. ​

That was the prevailing message from Toronto’s locker clean-out day on Friday ­– an afternoon spent mourning the opportunity lost to make it to a second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning that would have started this weekend.

Toronto forfeited that chance like it did the third-period lead against Boston in Game 7 of their first-round series on Wednesday. Less than 48 hours later, players were still a little shell-shocked in saying their goodbyes.

Unlike one year ago, when Toronto’s unexpected run to the postseason and subsequent first-round loss to Washington left the Leafs optimistic, there was a pointed hangover of disappointment this time.

“It rips the heart out of your chest,” said coach Mike Babcock. “The bottom line is, you work your whole life for opportunities and sometimes you put in the work and you’re disappointed anyway. To me, if you do it over and over again, opportunity turns your way. I’m a big believer in that. We’re disappointed in the way [the season] ended. We think we’re a good hockey club, but in the end we didn’t advance.”

Babcock used Friday’s forum to address a number of topics surrounding the Leafs, from their pending unrestricted free agents to his relationship with top-line centre Auston Matthews. The latter issue had been the subject of speculation in the media on Thursday, and Toronto’s head coach was as surprised as anyone when the rumour came to his attention.

“I heard about that last night at 11 p.m. Someone texted me, I texted him back and said, ‘I’ll find out in the morning. I’ll ask him in the morning,’” said Babcock. “That’s how I started today. I said, ‘What’s going on?’ Auston was pissed off in the third period in the last 10 minutes [of Game 7]. Probably 23 other guys on the team were the same. I think Auston and I have a good relationship. I asked him flat out [if we had a problem]. He was sitting right there and we don’t seem to.”

Matthews was similarly perturbed by the report. While acknowledging Babcock is “intense” and has high expectations of every player in the Leafs’ room, that hasn’t led to any bad blood between them.

“I don’t know what that’s all about. Our relationship is fine,” said Matthews. “You guys can speculate all you want, but it’s pointless. I just don’t think it’s true at all. People speculate, but I can tell you right now that’s not the case.”

What doesn't require any conjecture, though, is that Matthews wasn’t the difference-maker the Leafs needed him to be in the postseason. Over seven games, Matthews produced only two points (one goal, one assist) and there was a stretch of nine minutes in the second period of Game 7 where he took only one shift.

While that doesn’t qualify as being benched, it was a curious decision in such an important game for Toronto. Matthews said he didn’t know why his ice time in that frame lagged, but admitted his body wasn’t at its peak for the playoffs.

“There’s just the stuff that lingered on throughout the year,” said Matthews, who missed 20 regular-season games with back, head and shoulder injuries. “But nothing that hindered me from playing and feeling as good as you can. I’m going to go home [to Arizona] later on this week and recuperate. Body obviously isn’t 100 per cent.”

For a 20-year-old to go up against an opponent's best players is tough in any position, especially one that demands a 200-foot effort the way the centre spot does. From the first injury he suffered back in early November, Babcock didn't think Matthews was ever quite the same. 

“[When Auston] hurt his back, I don’t think at any time after that he ever skated the way Matty can skate,” added Babcock. “There were 20 games there where he wasn’t able to push it and his skating never got back to the level he was at. The other thing is we played a good defensive team in the postseason. They were stingy, and when you measure yourself stats-wise, I thought that series was tough on those [young] guys. It was really hard for them.”

Tougher still for Toronto has been to put the loss behind them and look ahead to next season. Babcock said he urged players not to put too much of the loss on themselves as individuals, but there was a palpable sense of regret from many of the Leafs.

Following a regular season in which the team sent a franchise record for most wins (49), to see their run come to such a stunningly quick end hasn’t been sitting right.

“It’s a bit more disappointing, because last year we didn’t know what to expect,” said Matthews. “This year we wanted to take a step forward and that didn’t happen. But it’s those learning experiences and adversity that make you better in the long run. No one said it was going to be easy. You’re going to go through these hard times, through adversity, and I think in the end it makes you better as a person and a player.”

"The way the team came together, the way they put a belief and a trust in each other and went out and did it, to me that was extremely impressive,'" added general manager Lou Lamoriello. "We put ourselves in a position where the pressure was on the other team in Game 7 and gave ourselves a chance; unfortunately, we didn’t take advantage of it." ​

For Lamoriello and the rest of the Leafs' management group, creating a winning culture within the organization where making playoffs would be the rule, not the exception, was a top priority. In Lamoriello's opinion, that accomplishment can now be checked off the list.

“Do we expect to be in the playoffs every year? Yes. That’s the best way to put it,” said Lamoriello. “The foundation of this team should only get better and better. Our young players are our most talented players and when the young players are your most talented players, the only way you can go is up.”

More than one Leaf said they would use the frustration of letting opportunity slip away this season as fuel, first in their off-season workouts and then when returning to win a job in training camp. It feels ages away now, but if the Leafs want their next off-season to be a lot shorter there is plenty of work to be done before a new campaign begins.

“I think the hardest thing in life is when you’re disappointed feeling like you could have done more yourself. It makes you sick almost,” said Babcock. “We want more. Sometimes getting slapped is the biggest thing for growth because you dig in that much harder. When we’re suddenly going from where we think we’re going to be winning, to losing, nobody on that bench is very happy… the work you do this summer allows you to play eight weeks [in the playoffs] instead of two weeks. We need to identify what we need to be better at individually, and then collectively, and continue to make strides if we want to have success.”