By Jasen Obermeyer
Ben Franklin once said that only two things in life are certain: death and taxes. If he was around today, he’d add the Maple Leafs getting knocked out in game 7 in the first round of the playoffs.
Call it déjà vu, a tradition, however you want to word it to get a laugh out of this, it’s a punch to the gut.
They’ve made the playoffs five straight times in a row and each time – apart in 2017 when they were eliminated in Game 6 – found themselves on the cusp of getting over the hump, only to be slammed back.