He wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Sheldon Keefe was also troubled after the Maple Leafs lost 3-2 to the Florida Panthers in Game 2 of the second round of the Eastern Conference at Scotiabank Arena. Toronto is trailing 2-0 in the best-of-7 series moving to the FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Fla. for Game 3 on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET; TBS, CBC, SN, TVAS). .
The reality of the situation is that both Dubas, the general manager, and Keefe, the coach, understand that the Maple Leafs’ Stanley Cup dreams have become a much more difficult journey. Call it a missed opportunity.
After losing the first two games of this series at home, a season of hope, promise and optimism was perhaps wiped out by a disastrous 66-second gap early in the second period.
After the Maple Leafs led 2-1 from the break, a series of self-inflicted hiccups allowed Panthers center Aleksander Barkov to level the game after 19 seconds in the second minute, before Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling just 47 seconds later at 3: 2 in the lead.
When it was all over, Keefe looked discouraged to say the least when asked what happened in the early moments of the period.
“Frankly disappointing,” he said. “We didn’t make those mistakes once in the last series.”
[RELATED: Complete Maple Leafs vs Panthers series coverage]
A series Toronto won in six games against the Tampa Bay Lightning to celebrate its first win in a playoff series since 2004.
Overcoming that hurdle should be the mental boost the Maple Leafs needed. They would no longer be haunted by past failures.
Except now, the Maple Leafs have to deal with a new horror every 66 seconds of it.
Most Worrying: Among the architects of Toronto’s demise were forwards William Nylander, Mitchell Marner and Auston Matthews, the core forwards who suffered six consecutive losses in six years before helping to defeat Tampa Bay in the first round.
Nylander, who had a flat tire near the Maple Leafs blue line, was on the ice when Barkov fired a shot past Ilya Samsonov to level the game.
Less than a minute later, Marner made an unlucky pass to Matthews at the Toronto blue line. The Maple Leafs forward was then stripped of the puck and seconds later Forsling converted a perfect cross ice feed from Matthew Tkachuk to set the Panthers up for good.
For their part, the Maple Leafs pushed for the rest of the game. John Tavares, their captain, hit the post twice in the second period. Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky made 22 saves in the last 40 minutes, many of them spectacular.
Ultimately, then, it was those 66 unlucky seconds that doomed the Maple Leafs in Game 2, and in reality perhaps the series.
“That’s why it’s confusing,” Keefe said.
It was as if the coach was looking for answers that weren’t there.
Neither did Tavares.
“Obviously we made a few mistakes,” Tavares said of the chaotic start to the second lap. “Obviously we need to take better care of the puck and make sure we start the period right.
“Obviously that put us in a difficult position. We have to deal with that better.”
Video: FLA@TOR, Gm 2: Barkov and Forsling score 2 in a row
Perhaps the most telling reaction to the loss came from Samsonov, who is always refreshing with his candid answers, good or bad. He made 26 saves on Thursday but wasn’t happy with his performance or that of his team.
“The result is bad for us again,” he said. “I think we all go home and look in the mirror, yeah, and say, ‘What else can I do on the ice for the team to win?’ For each.”
Now the task becomes even more difficult: win four of the next five games or go home.
“This is a big chance for us, this time we have to show people that we are a really good team, how hard we work, how we come back, 2-0, 3-0, it doesn’t matter. We have to show people,” Samsonov said.
While the Maple Leafs lamented their missed opportunity, the Panthers were relieved to head home. Game 2 was their fifth game in nine nights and dates back to Game 5 of the first round against the Boston Bruins. Three of the five were win-or-go home scenarios. Florida won all five.
On Thursday, victory came on the back of a recipe for a hot pre-check Toronto once again failed to handle, spectacular play from Bobrovsky and, presumably, a rousing encouragement from Panthers coach Paul Maurice.
So what did Maurice actually say his team came out of the first break at full throttle? Was it the kind of epic speech that is the stuff of legends?
“It wasn’t funny,” he said. “I had my mic on from that Quest for the Cup [documentary]so my speech wasn’t good.”
Maurice’s message was simple: “Let’s keep fighting.”
His team did just that and are going home with a clear lead in the series.
To be fair, the Maple Leafs are certainly not going away. They’re 3-0 going this postseason, each of those wins coming in overtime in the hostile environment of Tampa’s Amalie Arena. Toronto has won four of the last five games in this series.
Now he has to do it again. Easier said than done.
“We all have to think about ourselves here,” said Maple Leafs forward Ryan O’Reilly. “The focus is on the next game. We win the next game [and] we’ll take it from there.”
That’s the most logical path Toronto needs to take. Because after losing the first two home games, the scope is almost exhausted.