Typically we’d have a lot more games to choose from in a calendar year, but the Toronto Maple Leafs only played 33 games in 2020.
To say that 2020 has been a weird year, is an understatement. However, we should all be thankful that we were able to watch a little Toronto Maple Leafs hockey and a new 56-game regular season is on it’s way.
Before we knew a pandemic would shut down the world, the expectations were high for the Leafs. 2019 was filled with another Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins and a Mike Babcock firing, but 2020 was going to be different. After Sheldon Keefe was hired, the losing ways stopped and the team won more often than not.
Before the calendar flipped, the Leafs were trending towards missing the playoffs. Fortunately, the Keefe hiring sparked the team and by March, 2020 it looked like they were going to make the playoffs. However, as everyone knows, the world stopped on March 12, 2020 and the NHL season was shifted.
With five months off, we hoped that a young Leafs team would rally together and make a run but that didn’t happen. The team failed in five Qualifying Series games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and their season was over before it started again.
Five games from March 10 to December 31. That’s it.
I’ve played more games of NHL 21 in one day than the Leafs have played in nine months.
Although the Leafs only played 33 games in the 2020 Calendar year, they gave us a ton of entertainment in a short timeframe. I guess that’s what happens when you abandon defense every night and have to win games 7-5.
Regardless, here are the top-five Toronto Maple Leafs games of 2020.