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The Toronto Maple Leafs, and their captain Auston Matthews, must feel like they're trapped in a nightmare.
Both are on streaks that would've been hard to believe if they had been suggested before the 2025-26 NHL season.
Now, though, they're just encapsulating everything that has gone wrong in Toronto this season on the ice.
The Maple Leafs lost Tuesday night, and that marks their eighth loss in a row.
They still haven't won since returning from the Olympic break. The return should've been marked by some urgency, because without some quick winning, they would turn into for-sure sellers at the trade deadline.
But then all they've done is lose, and they traded away Nicolas Roy, Scott Laughton and Bobby McMann before the deadline, and now their depleted roster has continued to lose.
The cause hasn't been helped by Matthews.
One of the greatest goal scorers the Leafs have ever had, Matthews has managed to go 12 games in a row without scoring a goal.
It's not because he's not shooting. His last 47 shots on net have been denied.
His only longer goalless streak came in his rookie season, when he went 13 games without finding the back of the net.
Matthews is a long way from his rookie year, and this is pretty impossible to believe at this point.
But it's been that kind of season for the Maple Leafs, who will have a lot of big questions to answer this summer. At this point, it feels like every possible option will have to be on the table in the offseason.
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