Toronto Maple Leafs Lose to Sharks, Everyone Overreacts

The Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the San Jose Sharks last night.

Call me shocked, but people are overreacting to an early season Toronto Maple Leafs loss. You don’t say?

I for one can’t believe this. I thought the Leafs were well known for their sophisticated, emotionally stable and laid back fans.   They certainly wouldn’t overreact to another winnable game that went the wrong way, would they?

Let’s check in and find out. (all stats naturalstattrick.com).

Toronto Maple Leafs Lose Another Winnable Game

If you listen quietly at night sometimes, they say you can hear the wind throw a Marner jersey on the ice.

One loser actually spent hundreds of dollars to go to the game, then threw his $200 jersey on the ice. After a game the Leafs deserved to win, which just makes it even dumber.  Like, the guy was going to throw his jersey no matter what. I can’t decide who is worse, this guy, or the guy my friend Andrew was hanging out with last night.  This lowlife made one of the worst faux pas a person can make.  Let me set the scene:

I work with Andrew at my day job, and he’s also one of my best friends. I was out visiting another friend from six to eight PM in order to avoid helping unload a delivery we were getting for work after hours.  During this time, I missed a call from Andrew, but when I got home I called him right back.

The first thing I said was that I hadn’t seen the game and had it taped.  His friend, who I haven’t met and don’t want to, yelled out the final score.  Ruined the game.

I still watched it though, and I’m glad I did.  Just so I can tell you this: The Toronto Maple Leafs deserved to win that game.

Here is a chart from @jfresh that shows what I am talking about.  The leafs should be 5-0, but in their five games, they’ve been denied ten goals that they deserved.  Even the two games where they weren’t at their very best (first Ottawa game, and last night) the Leafs played well enough to win.

You hate to rag on the third string goalie, but damn, Hutchinson, this one’s on you, son.

If you click that link, you will see how the Leafs had tons of shots in tight, and how San Jose didn’t. the Leafs had 58% Corsi, 59% scoring chances, and 59% expected goals.

They are just in a bad streak, and sometimes this happens.  It is nothing to worry about, because when you play well and don’t get results you just have to keep doing what you’re doing and know that results will eventually come.

Sure a 2-3 start to the season is pretty lame, but overtime if the Leafs just keep doing what they are doing, they’ll go back to being the NHL’s best offense, and subsequently, they’ll be a top team.

And respect the taping process, that is just basic human decency.