Maple Leafs' Game 4 comeback bears eerie resemblance to infamous playoff collapse

Every single longtime Toronto Maple Leafs fan knows — and dreads — the score 4-1.

The team has produced no shortage of playoff heartbreak since they blew a three-goal lead with just over 10 minutes to go in Game 7 of their 2012-13 series with the Boston Bruins, but that infamous collapse is tough to top.

When Toronto managed a 4-1 comeback of their own in Game 4 of their series with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, Maple Leafs Twitter was abuzz about the team turning the tables on one of its worst moments.

There's a difference between a Game 4 win and a Game 7 victory to end a team's season, but the similarities between Monday's comeback and the one the Bruins staged 3,634 days ago are surprisingly plentiful.

That starts with the timing. The Bruins scored the 4-2 goal at 9:18 in the third period while the Maple Leafs began their march back into the game with an Auston Matthews goal at 9:44.

The source of the goals was also similar. Of the four goals the Bruins needed to complete their 5-4 win, two of them came from top-line centre Patrice Bergeron, who had just one marker in the series prior to coming through in the clutch.

Although there were only three Maple Leafs-Lightning games prior to Monday's nail-biter, Matthews also had just one goal to his name before his breakout.

Not only are some of the parameters of the comeback similar, there are also some stylistic similarities, particularly on the tying goals. Bergeron punched the Bruins trip to overtime with a shot from the point that somehow sifted through traffic and made it past a screened James Reimer.

Morgan Rielly also tied Monday's game with a seeing-eye wrister from way out that found its way through a maze of sticks and bodies and benefitting from the presence of John Tavares in front.

In both cases, the team that entered overtime on a high dominated a shellshocked opponent. Back in 2013, the Bruins outshot the Maple Leafs 5-2 and finished them off in just over six minutes. On Monday, Toronto outshot the Lightning 6-1 and put them out of their misery in just over four.

To be clear, these similarities are purely superficial.

None of the Maple Leafs from the 2012-13 team remain on the roster and the franchise has a new coach and front office. On Tampa Bay's side, a team that's been to three straight Stanley Cup Finals has no need to dwell on a first-round game from a decade ago.

And yet, for a Maple Leafs fanbase steeped in season after season of playoff trauma, the symmetry between this unlikely win and the team's most infamous loss was cathartic.

Some of the weight of the 19 years since the team last won a playoff run has come off the franchise's shoulders. All it will take to remove it all is one more win.