The Greatest Toronto Maple Leafs Game That No Fan Attended

The Toronto Maple Leafs had their greatest playoff game in team history and there were no fans in attendance to watch it.

There have been plenty of great overtime games in Toronto Maple Leafs history but Game 4 against the Columbus Blue Jackets may be the craziest three minutes of hockey this fan-base has ever seen.

While, the craziest three minutes that went in the right direction.

Although the Leafs pulled off a miracle and kept their season alive in their home rink at Scotiabank Arena, there were no fans to watch it live.

It was an empty arena with nothing but screams filling the air from every player on the ice.

Leafs Win Will Go Down in History

Everybody has that aunt or uncle who says they were at “that game.”

For Canadian moments, it’s either the World Series winning walk-off home-run in 1993 by Joe Carter, the Sidney Crosby “Golden Goal” or the Kawhi Leonard buzzer-beating winning shot in Game 7.

There are plenty of other games, but everybody knows someone who was at the game.

Either way, this will be one of the only Leafs game in franchise history where nobody can say they were at the game. Obviously the staff, players and media can say they were there.

But, there’s no Leafs fan with his face-painted blue-and-white screaming “Go Leafs Go” after 10 Molson Canadian’s that can say they were actually there.

It’s sad when you think about it because the building would have flown off if there were fans in attendance. Technically this was a home game for Columbus so maybe it wouldn’t have had the same effect, but either way it would have been quite the moment with fans in attendance.

Despite the arena being empty, the joy of being able to watch summer hockey lived up to its full potential with the Game 4 win.

Depending on how you watched the game, your view may be different. However, if you enjoyed it in a similar fashion that I did, you’re probably smiling from ear-to-ear.

Although everyone doesn’t have this luxury, sitting poolside with a big-screen TV outside is the way to go for summer hockey. Even when the Leafs went down 3-0, there was a sense of calmness because of the environment I watching it in. You’re not supposed to get upset when you’re three feet from a pool on a beautiful summer night with a beer in your hand.

So although the tension built and the season looked finished as the clock was ticking down, we all had faith. After the Leafs made it 3-1, faith built a little bit more, then when it was 3-2, you could feel something special happening.

Flash forward two minutes later and your buddy is jumping in the pool with all of his clothes because the Leafs tied it 3-3. It was a miracle but for whatever reason it felt like it could happen.

We’ve waited four months through a pandemic for Maple Leafs hockey, it couldn’t be over in one week.

As intermission strikes, I know understand how Boston Bruins fans felt at this similar moment during Game 7 of the 2013 Quarter-Finals. Your body feels numb and confused after the flurry of goals that just happened to tie the game, but at the same time, you just know the Leafs can’t lose this game.

When the Leafs went game went to overtime back in 2013, every fan in Toronto knew the Leafs were going to lose that game, so being on the opposite side for Game 4 against Columbus was nice.

This is payback for those tough nights against the Bruins. There’s no way the Leafs can lose this game in overtime now. But at the same time, your body as a Leafs fan is engineered to expect the worst at all-times, so you’re ready to be let down.

It’s the oldest Leafs joke of all-time. When your time is up, every fan wants their favourite Leafs players to be their pallbearers so they can let them down one last time.

Anyways, this time it didn’t happen.

The big-line showed up and if you look closely, all $40 million of those Big-Four forwards were on the ice for this goal. And you know what, they all had a part in the first, second and third goals to tie it.

Nobody is talking about those contracts being a waste of money now. John Tavares, Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner proved their worth in those last three minutes and in overtime.

When adversity hit, the best players on the team delivered in the biggest moment of the season.

When that goal went in, the crowd (six people) went crazy where I was and most likely woke up every neighbor on the block, but who cares. The  Toronto Maple Leafs pulled a George Costanza and did the opposite of what they typically do and shocked the world.

Unfortunately, no fan will be able to tell their grandchildren that they were at the greatest comeback in Toronto Maple Leafs history but that’s okay. I like my story better with the craziness outside and the fully-clothed late-night dip in the pool.