The Toronto Maple Leafs failed to win Game 7 against the Florida Panthers on Sunday night. Auston Matthews and company forced Game 7 on Friday night to give themselves a chance. However, they fell apart at home in front of their own fans. As a result, this team is heading toward an offseason that could bring about significant changes.

There are a number of things that went wrong on Sunday night. The Panthers smothered Toronto and allowed very few scoring chances, for example. But Matthews looked inward when reflecting on the game. He did not name any names, but the Maple Leafs captain did take aim at “passenger” players following their crushing elimination in Game 7 on Sunday night.

“I felt like we ready to play. I felt like we were in a good mindset. Like I said, I felt the first 10 minutes, they came out strong. In the next 10 minutes, I felt we controlled the play. I thought we had too many passengers throughout the rest of the game. And we weren't on the same page,” the Maple Leafs captain said, via Sportsnet.

Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews still processing Game 7 loss

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Matthews was asked by a reporter in the media scrum about any message he had for the fans. Toronto fans have watched for nine seasons as the team dropped disappointing performance after disappointing performance. The Maple Leafs captain did not directly address the fans, however, as he wanted to gather his thoughts a bit more.

“It's tough to kind of gather thoughts on all that so quickly after the game. You look back on training camp, just all the work to put in to get yourself to this point. It's very frustrating, obviously, for us as well as them included. It's tough to gather your thoughts on that right away,” Matthews said, via Sportsnet.

Once again, the Maple Leafs are searching for answers after an unfortunate defeat. Toronto could certainly run this core back in 2025-26, considering the postseason progress they did make this season. It's hard to deny the fact that this could very well be the last time Toronto's “Core Four” plays in the playoffs together, however.