Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe believes a couple of bounces could've changed the course of his team's best-of-five series against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
"A little more luck and it might be a different result," Keefe said postgame after Toronto fell 3-0 in Game 5, according to Sportsnet's Luke Fox.
The Blue Jackets' defense stymied the Maple Leafs' third-ranked regular-season offense, with Toronto scoring just three goals at five-on-five in the series, thanks in part to a 1.97 shooting percentage, according to Natural Stat Trick. Toronto controlled 55.1% of the scoring chances and 59.3% of the high-danger chances, all while generating 55.2% of the expected goals in the series at five-on-five.
"We had enough chances to score more goals than we did," Keefe added, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
The Maple Leafs have now lost in the opening round of the postseason to end four straight campaigns during the Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander era.
"It's obviously very disappointing," Matthews said, according to Sportsnet. "Lots of mixed emotions kind of going through all of our heads right now. Just very frustrating."
"It's a game of inches out there," he added.
The Maple Leafs have not won a postseason series since 2004.
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