Leafs or Oil bigger choker THIS year?

[Bronxxx]

How did the oilers choke?
They were expected to lose and did lose. 2 players can't carry the load in the PO. Anybody that though Edmonton was going to win that series was deluding themselves

The leafs were expected to win, jumped out to a 3-1 series lead and lost. That's definition choking

Therefore Marner and Matthews didn’t choke. The rest of the team did.

 

[tacogeoff]

Bring up 3-1 in the series and not being able to finish is easily the bigger choke job

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

LEAFS and its not even AINEC

both hilarious though

 

[TheMule93]

leafs are a better team and lost against a worse team

easy choice

 

[Bouboumaster]

Oilers overachieved big time this year, as McDrai willed the team near the top of the division. McDavid especially, with a Lemieuesque season. But aside from them, the team was terrible.
They just came back to Earth and was outmatched by a team who had much more talent overall.
This wasn't choking IMO.

Now, the Leafs choked big time. They were, on paper, the best team in the division and went up 3-1. But they made errors in game 5 and 6, and the Habs punished them for that. They broked the Leafs to the point were the Leafs didn't show up in game 7.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

this is easily the Leafs

This was supposed to be a massive season for them and best opportunity to make the final 4

 

[That Habs Fan]

Even as a Habs fan I will admit the Jets are objectively a much better team than the Habs...so I vote Toronto. Add to that the fact that Toronto just had to win one of the last 3 games.

Winnipeg has 5 forwards arguably better than Montreal's best (Scheifelle, Wheeler, Ehlers, Connor, Dubois) and an excellent goalie in his own right (Helle). The only real advantage Montreal has is team defence and dmen.

 

[MikeyMike01]

Biggest choke job in NHL history in my opinion is Lightning out in 4 vs Columbus 2 years ago. So - not really?

They were heavy favorites - and they choked.

That was a massive upset, not a choke.

 

[bobholly39]

That was a massive upset, not a choke.

From Columbus viewpoint sure
Lightning choked

 

[Mcnotloilersfan]

Leafs simply because they built up to go all in this year. Edmonton (fingers crossed) will be in that position next year, and it will be a choke if they dont win a round.

 

[nowhereman]

I think Toronto "choked" more than Edmonton but at least they showed up enough to put themselves in a position to choke. Both had embarrassing playoff outings but Edmonton was just awful, from top to bottom. You can use the "team" excuse for McDrai all you like but their showing, as the two top scorers in the league, was pretty shameful.

 

[Just Linda]

Price is the answer.
He got injured, the team tanked.

Nothing else matters to the Habs

It's not like the Leafs were getting 50 high danger shots per game. Price only made 2-3 great saves per game, he wasn't getting peppered with amazing shots. He was great yes but the Habs supported him.

Habs were better than people gave them credit for, Leafs were worse.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Leafs. The Habs are not a good team.

 

[Freudian]

Leafs had so much chokementum from previous years, no way Oilers could catch up to them even when swept.

 

[stl76]

Kind of surprised by these results. It's the oilers by a wide margin IMO.

 

[Erik Alfredsson]

I'd hardly say the Oilers choked, they lost to a team that was supposed to be better than them. Anyone could see the massive holes in their lineup and their lack of depth outside of McDavid and Draisaitl. Yes they probably should've stolen a game or two and made the series more competitive. But not a choke.

Toronto on the other hand, was a massive choke job. They were supposed to be the better team (even without Tavares), they had 3 opportunities to close out the series (including two overtimes, so they only had to score a goal), and ultimately lost on the hands of their two super star players being completely non-factors in the series, and went out to a team that probably wouldn't have even made the playoffs in a normal season. It's probably one of the bigger chokes in recent history.

 

[Painful Quandary]

Leafs. Ken Holland made it clear that cleaning up Chiapet's damage would take time, where as the expectations for the Leafs was a deep playoff run.

 

[CraigsList]

Is this even a question? The sweep went 4 games, but 3 went to OT. The Leafs blew a 3-1 series lead. Easily Leafs.

 

[CloutierForVezina]

How did the oilers choke?
They were expected to lose and did lose. 2 players can't carry the load in the PO. Anybody that though Edmonton was going to win that series was deluding themselves

The leafs were expected to win, jumped out to a 3-1 series lead and lost. That's definition choking

What kind of revisionist history garbage is this?

Oilers were the heavy, heavy favourites. They dummied the Jets all year and were absolutely expected to crush a team with a questionable defense that was held together by a vezina level goalie bailing them out all year and was missing one of their best forwards to start the series.

Picks for each first-round NHL playoff series had 13/16 people picking the Oilers
Stanley Cup Playoffs predictions had had 14/16 people picking the Oilers

2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Series Odds, Preview, and Picks betting odds had the Oilers as heavy favourites too

The Jets were absolutely in no way expected to win that series. They were heavy underdogs.

 

[nowhereman]

What kind of revisionist history garbage is this?

Oilers were the heavy, heavy favourites. They dummied the Jets all year and were absolutely expected to crush a team with a questionable defense that was held together by a vezina level goalie bailing them out all year and was missing one of their best forwards to start the series.

Picks for each first-round NHL playoff series had 13/16 people picking the Oilers
Stanley Cup Playoffs predictions had had 14/16 people picking the Oilers

2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Series Odds, Preview, and Picks betting odds had the Oilers as heavy favourites too

The Jets were absolutely in no way expected to win that series. They were heavy underdogs.

There's quite a bit of revisionist history, it would seem, where the Oilers/McDrai are concerned. There was a lot of talk this year about how the team had taken a step forward, that Nuge had the best PPG of his career, that they finally had a #1 in Nurse and that the weren't far off from the 2009 Pens. Hell, people seem to forget that this team would have made last year's playoffs, if not for Covid, and wasn't just some flash in the pan.

Then McDavid and Draisaitl ghost their team when they needed them the most and the Oilers are right back to being an "AHL roster minus their top two". You hear excuses about how McDavid was ridden too hard, even though he seemed to have plenty of energy gunning for his 100+ points near the end of the season. Trying to claim that the Jets were the favorites, even when that goes completely against what people were actually claiming before the series started, is especially rich. In reality, even if the Oilers were a poor team, McDavid (a generational talent) and Draisaitl (the 2nd/3rd best offensive player in the game) should still be able to rise above the mediocrity and put in a performance that makes it a series. They didn't.

The Leafs may have "choked" their series lead but I'd be more embarrassed if I was the Oilers. I think a lot of the back-peddling has to do with the fact that people don't like the look of all their hot takes from earlier in the year (i.e. "McDavid is better than Gretzky").

 

[M88K]

What kind of revisionist history garbage is this?

Oilers were the heavy, heavy favourites. They dummied the Jets all year and were absolutely expected to crush a team with a questionable defense that was held together by a vezina level goalie bailing them out all year and was missing one of their best forwards to start the series.

Picks for each first-round NHL playoff series had 13/16 people picking the Oilers
Stanley Cup Playoffs predictions had had 14/16 people picking the Oilers

2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs First Round Series Odds, Preview, and Picks betting odds had the Oilers as heavy favourites too

The Jets were absolutely in no way expected to win that series. They were heavy underdogs.

I expected the Jets to win.
Think i had them in 5.
Most people I'd seen had the Jets winning too.
Guess there was some people that thought that Oilers team was good for some reaaon. I'll edit my original post for clarity

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Leafs. Only because they went all in. Trading picks away like it meant nothing.

 

[Just Linda]

There's quite a bit of revisionist history, it would seem, where the Oilers/McDrai are concerned. There was a lot of talk this year about how the team had taken a step forward, that Nuge had the best PPG of his career, that they finally had a #1 in Nurse and that the weren't far off from the 2009 Pens. Hell, people seem to forget that this team would have made last year's playoffs, if not for Covid, and wasn't just some flash in the pan.

Then McDavid and Draisaitl ghost their team when they needed them the most and the Oilers are right back to being an "AHL roster minus their top two". You hear excuses about how McDavid was ridden too hard, even though he seemed to have plenty of energy gunning for his 100+ points near the end of the season. Trying to claim that the Jets were the favorites, even when that goes completely against what people were actually claiming before the series started, is especially rich. In reality, even if the Oilers were a poor team, McDavid (a generational talent) and Draisaitl (the 2nd/3rd best offensive player in the game) should still be able to rise above the mediocrity and put in a performance that makes it a series. They didn't.

The Leafs may have "choked" their series lead but I'd be more embarrassed if I was the Oilers. I think a lot of the back-peddling has to do with the fact that people don't like the look of all their hot takes from earlier in the year (i.e. "McDavid is better than Gretzky").

The Leafs also have a lot of revisionist history going on to their series. Start of the season, it was pretty split on who'd win a series. Somehow the Covid pace happened for the Habs season and suddenly they became this hack team who didn't deserve to be there.

 

[TheHelmet]

I'm gonna go with the oilers.

losing 4 straight, and McDavid going pointless and having 2 crucial giveaways leading to important goals in the next 2 games
or
surrending a 3-1 lead with toronto's talent

 

[DomBarr]

The Oilers were never in it to be able to Choke...
The Leafs coughed up yet another 3-1 series lead

Its the Laughs and its really not close at all.