Matthew Tkachuk knows exactly who’s to blame for Leafs’ playoff failures

The 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs are down to four teams with Game 1 of the Eastern conference final taking place last night and the Florida Panthers coming out strong against the Carolina Hurricanes with a 5-2 win to take the lead in the series. The Panthers reached the East final after ousting the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 7 over the weekend, and believe it or not Matthew Tkachuk actually feels bad for the Leafs.

Speaking with the boys from Spittin Chiclets podcast, Tkachuk seemed to know exactly who was to blame for the Maple Leafs’ last playoff failure, pointing the finger at fans and media in Toronto:

“If their team was not in Toronto dealing with all the crazy circus stuff outside of it, they’d be an unbelievable team.”

With Sunday’s loss, Toronto has now lost more Game 7s than any other franchise in NHL history—a total of 16, breaking a tie with the Boston Bruins. What’s however worse for the Leafs is that they made the playoffs in nine straight seasons and been eliminated in a Game 7 in six of those years. No other franchise has lost more than four Game 7s over that span. The Leafs haven’t won a Game 7 since 2004.

And Tkachuk blames everyone except the players he faced on the ice in the second round series.