The Toronto Maple Leafs Lose, But Earn a Free Pass

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Blue Jackets last night to put an end to their Stanley Cup hopes.

Technically, the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t even make the playoffs.

So, there’s that.

But as fans of a team that has not won a championship in a league with more than six teams, and which now (more or less) has lost four straight times in the first(ish) round, how should we feel?

Friends, that isn’t for me to say.

You be as happy or as sad, as angry or annoyed as you want to be.

Toronto Maple Leafs Delivered, Just Couldn’t Get by the Goalie

But for me, I’m proud of the team. I think they’re on the right track (which doesn’t mean that they don’t need some roster changes) and I believe that over the last two games of this series, they have earned our respect.

Coming back from down three goals with only four minutes left in the game on Friday was amazing.

It showed that they won’t quit. It showed determination and it showed backbone.

As for last night?  The Leafs were – by far – the best team and they played in a way that is almost always good enough to win.

Down Muzzin.  Down to five defenseman, and shooting just 2% for the series (not to mention that, inexplicably, Columbus doesn’t get called for penalties) the Leafs gave it their all, and that is all you can ask.

They got goalied.

All credit to Jonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikens, but even they can’t believe what just happened.

In a five game series, each goalie went on a separate streak of 50+ save in a row, and then Korpisalo returned from a two game absence to record another 33 saves.

And Columbus vaunted defense was no where to be seen. The Leafs had their way with them after game one, and did whatever they wanted.  Expect score.

Last night the Leafs hit three posts, including one on an empty net that will likely haunt John Tavares’ dreams for months.

Korpisalo made at least five insane saves that he had no business making and that was all she went.

As a wise person once said, there’s no shame in getting goalied.

And yeah, it’s been four straight first round losses, but the facts are one of those was with a team full of rookies, two were against a legacy team a decade into its dominance (and the Leafs played well enough to win both times) and now an absolute beat-down that required one of the lowest shooting percentages in league history to come to fruition.

Ultimately, no one cares HOW you lost, just that you did.

That isn’t right, but its how things are.  The Toronto Maple Leafs lost a series in which they allowed zero power-play goals, and in which their goalie posted a .936 save percentage.  (You will almost never, ever lose when that happens).

The Leafs lost, but after a five month break they came together and put to bed almost every single criticism about their team.

They played tough, they played great defense, they didn’t allow scoring chances, they worked hard, they weren’t outmatched physically, they got great goaltending and fantastic special teams.

Their biggest strength was neutralized by two goalies playing out of their mind.  You can embarrass yourself like Brian Burke and try to shoehorn a loss that HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF YOUR COMPLAINTS into proving you were right all along, but hopefully you aren’t an ex-GM of the team you’re criticizing.

I am disappointed that the Leafs lost, but I would only be mad if they didn’t play well, and they played great.

It’s going to be a long summer/fall, but I believe in this team and I believe our patience will be rewarded.