Another Disappointment 💔
Maple Leafs fans have my condolences because they’re loyal…
In NHL news, the Toronto Maple Leafs were ousted, yet again, in the first round of the playoffs despite enjoying another excellent regular season. Why do things go so wrong for the Leafs in the postseason and how many more NHL games must they play before they break free from their funk and win a Stanley Cup?
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Lonely Losers
The Toronto Maple Leafs are too talented to be labeled lovable losers which means they’re just plain ol’ run-of-the-mill loozahs, as we say here in Boston. I’m happy to say my Bruins kept the Leafs’ postseason streak of futility intact with a 2-1 Game 7 overtime victory on Saturday night.
Both goalies in that final contest stole the show but it was David Pastrnak who sealed the deal with a nifty little backhander passed the sprawling Toronto goalie to end the series and send the Leafs packing in another first-round playoff exit.
Final.@LGCanada | #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/DH8UZuXftN
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) May 5, 2024
Before the puck dropped, NHL rumors whispered that Joseph Woll, who tended the twine so brilliantly for the Leafs, would not play due to injury. Those rumors proved to be true but Ilya Samsonov’s stats will show he saved 29 of 31 shots as a surprise Game 7 starter and no one could have played much better than the 27-year-old Russian.
Can Relate
As much as I cheered the goal and celebrated the Bs advancing to the next round, there was a small part of me that wished it was another team that the Bruins sent home. You see, I’ve been where Leafs fans are at this very moment. I rooted for baseball’s version of the Maple Leafs my entire life, the Boston Red Sox, who hadn’t won a World Series since 1918 until they broke their streak of futility back in 2004.
A hard fought #Game7 right until the end. 👏 #StanleyCup
Capping off this series with some #HockeyHandshakes. 🤝 pic.twitter.com/ngE2jnUx07
— NHL (@NHL) May 5, 2024
That’s a helluva lot longer than the drought in Toronto, a team that last hoisted the Stanley Cup in 1967. But if you’re a Leafs fan, it might as well be forever because many of you weren’t around back then. It hasn’t been easy being a Leafs fan as they failed to make the postseason in 10 of 11 seasons before losing to the Capitals in the first round of the 2016-2017 season.
Since that time Toronto has been eliminated in the opening round of the playoffs seven out of the last eight years. And what’s even more painful is they took every series except the one with Washington to the limit and were eliminated in the deciding game.
Painful Loyalty
Maple Leafs fans have my condolences because they’re loyal. They not only pack the joint when the Leafs are home but fill Maple Leaf Square outside Scotiabank Arena watching their boys on a mammoth flat-screen TV when they’re on the road. But sometimes good people make bad choices and this is one of them. Unyielding love and devotion to a franchise that won’t love them back.
Like the pre-2004 Red Sox, the Maple Leafs have had championship-caliber teams but once the playoffs arrive something happens – something bad. It’s like getting busy in the backseat of your car with your best girl in high school, hitting all the right spots, fogging up the windows, and all of a sudden, a cop’s flashlight is shining right on your ass. Literally!
If the guys on the ice had half the passion Leafs Nation has, we wouldn’t be down 3-1 to Boston. @tonybet_canada #leafsforever #nhlbruins pic.twitter.com/eUtM7TgI9T
— Fan First Network (@fanfirstnetwork) April 28, 2024
Well, I don’t have to tell you about all the psychological and physiological changes that instantly occur when that happens but suffice it to say your mojo evaporates and so too does your…confidence. Yeah, confidence, that’s the ticket. There’s no recovering from that and all you want to do is get out of Dodge without a ticket in your hand or metal bracelets around your wrists, and some shred of whatever dignity you can muster.
That’s the Maple Leafs in a nutshell. They skate into the postseason with all kinds of confidence and then the white-hot spotlight shines on their collective asses and they shrink from the moment, much like your confidence in the backseat of that car.
The Leafs remind me of an evangelical preacher, they convince the masses to believe and in the blink of an eye they can get 25,000 people to stand up in unison and yell “Jesus Christ”. Well, Leafs fans, I’d tell you to keep the faith but you always do. I’ll pray for you. Amen.
The First Round of the #StanleyCup Playoffs is in the books! 📚
How is your bracket looking? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/L8yrfqsBdB
— NHL (@NHL) May 6, 2024
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