After finally winning their first playoff series in nearly two decades last week against the Lightning, the Leafs find themselves in a familiarly dire situation: faced with digging out of a deep hole. Toronto blew a 2–0 first-period lead against the Panthers last night and lost 3–2 to fall behind 0–2 in the series as it shifts to Florida this weekend.

Two of Florida’s three goals came off sloppy Toronto turnovers, and Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe didn’t hold back when addressing the errors after the game.

“Disappointing. Baffling, frankly,” Keefe told reporters. “We didn’t make those mistakes one time in the last series.”

The Leafs’ playoff failures have been equally baffling. They’ve consistently been one of the best regular-season teams in the NHL for years now, making the playoffs seven years in a row, with a core of offensive weapons (Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares) that rivals any in the league. And yet it hasn’t amounted to much.

Falling short so consistently—as the premier franchise in a country where hockey is king—places an immense amount of pressure on the Leafs and inevitably leads to overreactions. Fans booed the team off the ice when they gave up three goals in the first period of Game 1 of the first round against the Lightning. There was a “here we go again” feeling that proved to be premature as Toronto won four of the next five to capture the series. Going on the road down 0–2 as the Leafs are set to do now is an unenviable position and, given their history of postseason disappointments, a potentially dire situation. But don’t write them off just yet.

A loaded weekend ahead

Game 3 of the Leafs-Panthers series Sunday is just one of several highly anticipated NHL and NBA playoff games on the docket this weekend. Canada’s only other hope of snapping its 30-year Stanley Cup drought, the Oilers, face the Golden Knights tomorrow night, with Edmonton seeking to even the series at a game apiece.

There are three pivotal Game 3s in the NBA tonight and tomorrow in series that are currently tied at a game apiece, each with their own interesting subplots. The Nuggets captured the first two games in their series against the Suns, with Phoenix desperate to avoid an 0–3 deficit in tonight’s matchup.

The Celtics and Sixers play tonight in Philadelphia (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN) in a game that has to go better for Philly than Game 2’s blowout in Boston did. Joel Embiid’s recovery from a knee injury is the thing to watch in that one. He was held in check by an aggressive Boston defense Wednesday night, but the Sixers need him to return to his MVP level of play.

The Heat-Knicks series (Game 3 tomorrow at 3:30 p.m. ET on ABC) is a similar story. Jimmy Butler’s availability remains in question after he missed Game 2 with an ankle injury. The Heat held their own against the Knicks despite his absence, losing 111–105, but would breathe a lot easier if he was able to be on the floor in Miami.

And after the Warriors beat the Lakers handily last night, 127–100, that series is tied, with Game 3 tomorrow night in Los Angeles (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC). Klay Thompson finally had one of those otherworldly three-point shooting nights we’ve become accustomed to seeing from him (8-of-11 from deep as he scored 30 points) in last night’s win, which adds another wrinkle to tomorrow’s installment of the LeBron James–Warriors rivalry.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Emma Baccellieri tried to make sense of how the Cardinals have gotten off to such a terrible start.
Former Jets beat writer Greg Bishop has some advice for Aaron Rodgers on how to handle the New York media.
Transferring to Kansas helps cement former Michigan big man Hunter Dickinson’s status as one of college basketball’s biggest villains, Kevin Sweeney writes.
Chris Mannix wrote about the Bucks’ firing of coach Mike Budenholzer after the team’s first-round collapse against the Heat.
Alabama is firing its baseball coach after several states stopped betting activity on Crimson Tide baseball games.
Jonathan Wilson covers the winding road Napoli took to earn its first Serie A title in more than three decades.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s vicious swing on a long home run over the Green Monster.

4. Sam Reinhart’s no-look assist for the Panthers’ first goal.

3. Stephen Curry’s off-balance three in the third quarter.

2. Hanser Alberto striking out on a pitch that hit him with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning. If he hadn’t swung, the White Sox would have won.

1. The fireworks all over the city of Napoli after its soccer team won its first championship in 33 years.

SIQ

Today is Sixers forward P.J. Tucker’s birthday. What is his given first name?

Paul
Patrick
Stephen
Anthony

Yesterday’s SIQ: What was the final score when the Cincinnati Red Stockings played the first professional baseball game on May 4, 1869?

1–0
12–2
28–26
45–9

Answer: 45–9. The Red Stockings, who had formed two months earlier as the first openly professional baseball team, played two warmup games before beginning league play May 4 against another Cincinnati team called Great Western. The debut blowout was a sign of things to come.

Cincinnati’s next game, against an Indiana club called Kekionga of Fort Wayne, was even more lopsided, ending with a final score of 86–8. (They didn’t think of adopting a mercy rule?) The Red Stockings won their next six games by an average of 31.1 runs per game before beating Alert of Rochester by the relatively tight score of 18–9. Some other gaudy scores from that inaugural season include 80–5 (June 9 against the Mutual Club of Springfield, Mass.), 53–0 (July 1 against Baltic of Wheeling, W.Va.), 85–7 (July 30 against Cream City of Milwaukee) and 103–8 (Aug. 31 against Buckeye of Cincinnati).

The Red Stockings won all 64 of the games they played that year—all but nine of them by at least 10 runs.

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