Maple Leafs players with Toronto-area roots embrace playoff pressure

Try as they might, a significant number of Toronto Maple Leafs players can't hide from the beleaguered history of a franchise that has not won the Stanley Cup since 1967.Or a Stanley Cup Playoff series in 19 years.Because for the 10 members of the Maple Leafs who were born and bred in southern Ontario, it's in their DNA. Colorado Avalanche Trikot 2023

On Tuesday, Toronto will open its best-of-7 Eastern Conference First Round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning at home (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SNE, SNO, SNP, TVAS, BSSUN) attempting to advance in the playoffs for the first time since 2004. The Maple Leafs will be looking for redemption after the Lightning eliminated them in seven games last season -- marking the sixth straight season that Toronto lost in the opening round -- and will do it with a team that has no shortage of local flavor.

Giordano is a born and bred Torontonian, and forwards Michael Bunting and Wayne Simmonds are from Scarborough, one of Toronto's eastern suburbs. Forward Mitchell Marner grew up north of the city in Markham. Center John Tavares was born in Mississauga, just west of Toronto. Forward Ryan O'Reilly is from the town of Clinton, near London. Defenseman TJ Brodie is from Chatham, the hometown of Baseball Hall of Fame member Ferguson Jenkins, located about halfway between London and Windsor. Defenseman Connor Timmons is from St. Catharines, about 60 miles south of Toronto near the United States border.

Two other locals are on injured reserve: defenseman Jake Muzzin, who grew up 65 miles southeast of Toronto in Woodstock; and defenseman Victor Mete, who's from Woodbridge, just north of Toronto.

For these players, the question is simple: Does having grown up in the region add more pressure or supply motivation? Especially when they all know what playoff success would mean here.

The 25-year-old grew up absorbing any and all information about the history of the Maple Leafs, so much so that he wore No. 93 in minor hockey and with London of the Ontario Hockey League in honor of former Maple Leafs forward Doug Gilmour. Keep in mind that Marner hadn't even been born when Gilmour helped Toronto reach the conference final in 1993 and 1994.

For some head-scratching reason, he's often been made the scapegoat by fans for Toronto's recent postseason shortcomings. He's averaged 1.09 points per game in the regular season for his 507-game NHL career, but averaged 0.85 points per game in 39 postseason games, which is a legitimate source of criticism. At the same time, he's hardly been the main reason the Maple Leafs have fallen short in recent years.

And yet he, like Giordano, continues to focus on the big picture and imagine what a Stanley Cup would mean to the team, the city and all of southern Ontario, for that matter.

Easier said than done. Just ask O'Reilly, who was traded to Toronto by the St. Louis Blues with forward Noel Acciari as part of a three-team deal that included the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 17. Günstige Eishockey Trikots

The 32-year-old helped the Blues win the Cup in 2019 and brought hockey's Holy Grail to southwestern Ontario, where he celebrated with his relatives and his childhood pals. But it hasn't taken him long to understand the passionate environment he now plays in and how many people he's known for years live and die with each and every Maple Leafs shift.To that end, one of the first things O'Reilly did after being traded was text his father, Brian.