Toronto Maple Leafs: Top 5 Worst Leafs Moments of 2020
2020 was not a year that the Toronto Maple Leafs will want to remember.
Although the Toronto Maple Leafs provided a ton of entertainment in the 34 games they played this calendar year, it was usually because something bad happened.
The Leafs over the years have been a lot like a car-crash to me. No matter how bad it is, you can’t look away. Part of me lives off the pain this team gives me. I know that sounds sick, but the pain will make it that much sweeter when they win.
As crazy as it seems, the Leafs actually had a losing record in 2020. After the Mike Babcock firing seemed to turnaround the season, the team somehow finished with a 16-18 record in the 2020 calendar year. Four of those losses came in overtime/shootout, but still. When I look back at this season, it feels like the second half was trending in the right direction, but clearly it wasn’t.
I’m typically pretty positive about the Leafs, but that number is troubling. Although I do think that 2021 will bring a playoff win and positives vibes to Toronto, I could’ve swore that 2020 saw some better results.
But, hey, I guess that’s kind of how 2020 goes. Even the good times aren’t that good. As tough as it may be, let’s take a look at the worst moments for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2020. And cheers to 2021 providing much more happier and fulfilling moments than the ones you’re about to read.
5. Season Cut Short due to Pandemic
It was March, 10th, 2020 and the Toronto Maple Leafs had just won maybe their most impressive game of the season. Instead of a 6-5 thriller, Toronto provided great team defense and hung onto a 2-1 win against the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
Then, out of nowhere, the world shut down. The NHL followed the NBA and decided to stop their league and resume play when able. When the season stopped, the Leafs had a 36-25-9 record. At the time, they were the third best team in their Division and it looked like they’d be playing the Lightning in the First Round.
Instead, the NHL changed their format, which allowed four more teams in each Conference the opportunity to make the playoffs. As the eighth seed in the Conference, the Leafs were forced into a Best-of-Five Qualifying Series against the Columbus Blue Jackets. We’ll get to that series later.
The biggest disappointment from the shut-down came from an individual perspective. Auston Matthews had a chance to score 50 goals in a season and become the fourth player in team history to do so. Instead, he was stopped short t an impressive 47 and never got that opportunity.
Matthews is arguably the best goal-scorer in the NHL and should score 50 goals in his career at some point, but it’s possible that never happens again. For all we know, that could have been his best goal-scoring pace in his career and he never gets a chance to break Rick Vaive’s record.
It was one of many disappointing moments that happened to the Leafs this year.
#4. Leafs Back-Up Goaltending
Alright this may not be a specific moment, but it needs to be talked about.
All things considered, Freddie Andersen had a pretty good year. It’s his back-up that screwed the team from becoming a top-four seed in the Conference.
Remember, Michael Hutchinson? How could you forget? The team decided they liked his awful play so much last season, they brought him back for another go-around. Joking aside, he’ll make a great goaltender for the Toronto Marlies, but his stats with the big-club were awful.
Michael Hutchinson:
- Stats: 4-9-1 record, 3.66 GAA, 0.886 SV%
His GAA was almost a full goal more than Andersen’s last year, so he gave the team a much worse chance to win when he was in net. The team knew that if they didn’t score five goals, they didn’t have a chance to win. In those 14 games played, Hutchinson allowed four or more goals nine (!) times.
Within those nine games, the Leafs scored three goals every time, but once. So it’s not like the offense ran cold for his record to be so terrible. The offense gave the Leafs a chance to win every night, but Hutchinson gave up way too many goals.
The Leafs finished 11 points behind the Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division last year, so if the team had a decent back-up goalie all season, it’s possible that they would have got at least six more wins on the year. A good back-up would’ve meant even more rest for Andersen, who would have played even better when called upon, as a result. Thank goodness the team traded for Jack Campbell, or it could have been even worse in 2020.
#3. Defensive Injuries
The Toronto Maple Leafs had 11 defenseman play during the 70-game season last year, with only two players playing over 60 games.
If you look at the games played by each defenseman last year, the team’s top two defensemen missed a combined 40 games, many of them simultainiously. (via: hockeydb.com).
- Kevin Gravel – 3 games played
- Timothy Liljegren – 11 games played
- Calle Rosen – 4 games played
- Martin Marincin – 26 games played
- Cody Ceci – 56 games played
- Rasmus Sandin – 28 games played
- Travis Dermott – 56 games played
- Justin Holl – 68 games played
- Jake Muzzin – 53 games played
- Morgan Rielly – 47 games played
- Tyson Barrie – 70 games played
This is a combined moment, but the Muzzin and Rielly injuries were killer for the Leafs. Muzzin missed the entire month of January, end of February and all of March with two separate injuries. Similarly, Rielly missed most of January and February, only to return for the team’s last regular season game on March 10.
From January-to-March, the Leafs were for the most part without their top-two defenseman. The fact that the team was able to still make a push for the playoffs while Marincin, Sandin, Ceci, Barrie, Dermott and Holl were their top-six defenseman most nights was impressive.
Not only were the regular season injuries a terrible moment for the team, but Muzzin’s freak injury from Game 2 of the Qualifying Series was also awful. That exact moment at the end of the game during a meaningless play may have swung the series and hopefully Muzzin is now fully recovered for the 2021 season.
#2. Qualifying Series – Game 3 vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
Let me take you back to my experience of this game. It was a beautiful summer’s night. I’d just finished playing nine holes after work with some buddies and was pumped to watch the Leafs try for back-to-back wins.
Two nights prior, the Leafs had dominated the Blue Jackets and played one of their best all-around games of the season. From start to finish, Toronto looked like the team we’d hope for them to be. Obviously the Muzzin injury at the end of that game was scary, but we all hoped the team would rally around that and win it for him.
Anyways, back to my story. I’d made my way down to watch the game at the Drive-In. That’s the last place I’d ever imagined watching a meaningful Leafs playoff game, but here we were on a great night to watch the Bud’s. Even though I’m jammed in the backseat, the night is perfect. Midway through the game, Toronto was up 3-0 and Nick Robertson had scored his first career NHL goal in his debut game. What a moment and what a night this was going to be.
Columbus gets a goal a few minutes later but it’s still 3-1 heading into the third with the game in control. Earlier in the day, NHL 21 had put a Tweet out that I thought was a joke, but they ran a simulation for the game and the result was that the Leafs would go up 3-0 and lose 4-3 in OT. I’d ignored this thought most of the game, but it was lingering in the back of my head as the third period came around. With my neck sideways, and starting to hurt from watching the game from the back seat, that tweet became a reality.
Seth Jones gets one to make it 3-2, then Pierre-Luc Dubois scores his second of the game and it’s all tied up. 3-3 and we’re heading to OT. The period drags on and I start to think: “Am I going to sleep in this car tonight? Do I leave at the intermission and try to make it home for the start of the second overtime period?”
I wouldn’t have to actually do any of those things, because right as I was deciding my next step, Dubois shut every Leafs fan up that was honking their horn earlier and ended the game: 4-3, Blue Jackets. A hat-trick goal by the 22-year-old and Columbus was up 2-1 in the series.
No hats were thrown on the ice and there were no celebrations in the stands. Instead, there was a quiet ride home, knowing that the Leafs season would be over in a matter of days.
#1. The David Ayres Game
February 22, 2020 will be a day I never forget. Although this game feels like it happened in 2010, it somehow existed only 10 months ago at Scotiabank Arena in front of 19,000 fans. Thank god there were actual fans allowed at this game, or I don’t think anyone would have believed this story.
It may have been a wonderful moment for hockey fans, but I bet that memory isn’t as fondly remembered by the Leafs dressing room.
When you go down 4-1 in the second period, it’s never a good night. That’s a tough lead to come back from, however on this particular night, it felt like the hockey gods were sending Toronto a gift. After Petr Mrazek and James Reimer had both been injured, the Carolina Hurricanes were left without a goalie. Who in the world was going to play net, now? Would a player find some equipment, strap on the pads and go in, or did they have a secret third-string goalie we’d never heard of?
Well, thanks to the Emergency Back-Up Goaltender (EBUG) rule in hockey that millions of fans weren’t aware of in the moment, the legend of David Ayres was born.
Ayres, a 42-year-old Zamboni driver and maintenance worker for the Toronto Marlies was called upon to get his first sniff at professional hockey. We’d come to find out that he’d practiced with the Toronto Maple Leafs a bunch, which seemed to help his nerves.
After two goals in his first three minutes of ice-time to make it 4-3, it felt like the Leafs would score 100 goals on him and embarrass him on national TV. However, in a matter of minutes, Ayres went from being the ‘goat’ to being the G.O.A.T.
He didn’t allow another goal, stopped eight of the 10 shots he faced and guided the Hurricanes to a 6-3 win. For a franchise that’s had a bunch of terrible moments, this may be the worst. Being forever known as the team that lost to the Zamboni driver is a tough pill to swallow.
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It may have been the Leafs worst moment of 2020, but it at least provided an unforgettable night for Ayres, his family and millions of hockey fans watching across the world.