It’s an inexcusable showing from the Core Four. The salaries don’t matter when you get on the ice and they can’t outscore their opponents - Matthew Tkachuk aside, the Maple Leafs are vastly more talented, acclaimed and decorated than the Panthers and yet they’ve been completely erased. Applying criticism through the vantage point of the salary cap is the most boring lens but you can’t ignore that their salaries account for 49 percent of the Maple Leafs’ space. The most damning indictment: Matthews, Marner, Tavares and Nylander haven’t scored a goal through three games. None of the predictive chances are materializing into anything worth shouting about. He’s been Toronto’s best creator by far but once again, the same problem still applies. Speaking of Nylander, you can perhaps give him a pass. Nylander constantly created chances for his linemates and Tavares couldn’t deliver. He could only place two shots on net and though he excelled in the faceoff dot at a 63-percent clip, that’s just ancillary detail when you can’t buy a goal. Tavares was the city’s hero last weekend with his series-clinching goal against the Lightning, but he appeared to be skating in quicksand in Game 3. The surging Panthers pushed the Maple Leafs to the brink with a dramatic overtime win in Game 3. He got straight up bullied in Game 3, as Florida generated 18 scoring chances for with four against when Marner was on the ice in all situations, to go along with a game-worst 24-percent share of the expected goals and a 31-percent Corsi. Marner has been dead-set on shedding individual accolades during a career year where he was named among the three finalists for the Selke Trophy, awarded to the best defensive forward in the NHL. Marner, Matthews and Tavares in that order were Toronto’s worst players in regulation, ranked by expected goals at 5-on-5, although you don’t need the charts to quantify their impact, or lack thereof on Sunday. Morgan Rielly and William Nylander can perhaps be excused from this narrative but with everything to play for, a pivotal season in this group’s timeline was on the line and Marner, Matthews and captain John Tavares were completely absent. This loss falls squarely on the shoulders of the Maple Leafs’ star-studded, top-heavy core. What a sequence by the Panthers /MPeIZhYlX0
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