A Toronto Maple Leafs Loss Tonight Will Devastate the Fanbase

The eighth game of the regular season shouldn’t be a do-or-die game for any team, but if the Toronto Maple Leafs lose tonight, the fanbase is going to riot.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 2-4-1 through their first seven games, but it feels like they’re 0-7. Funny enough, the team they’re playing tonight (Chicago Blackhawks) are winless with a 0-5-1 record.

Not only is Chicago winless on the ice, but they’re winless off the ice as well. Yesterday, Blackhawks GM, Stan Bowman, resigned from his position after a report investing assault allegations against a former coach were released.

The entire allegation is sickening to read and everyone involved with those incidents deserves to be fired from their position.

With Chicago under scrutiny for their off-ice behavior and on-ice ability, there’s no reason they should beat the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight. However, if they find a way to win, I’m not sure how much more this fanbase can take.

Fanbase Will Riot if Toronto Loses Tonight

TSN’s Bryan Hayes said it best on OverDrive this week when he said: “The Leafs are just like the movie Van Wilder.” Essentially that comment means that they go to school for seven years and never graduate.

Those early stages of the Auston Matthews Era were supposed to be lessons. Losing to Washington and even Boston twice in the playoffs was okay because it was the early stages of a successful future. Those first round loses were only going to help this team as they continue to progress towards a Stanley Cup.

However, fast-forward into Matthews’ sixth season and the team’s yet to win a playoff series and they look lifeless through seven games. The only thing that the core-four has gained through their first few years together is financial freedom and a fanbase that is revolting them.

When Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander aren’t scoring, this team is nothing. They rely on four players every night, which is a tough model to follow.

These players typically perform very well in the regular season, so as a fanbase, it’s incredibly frustrating to see they falter this early. We’re used to them collapsing in the Spring, but can we get through a successful regular season first before they break our hearts again?

The Leafs have to beat the Chicago Blackhawks tonight and they have to defeat them convincingly. It can’t be a 2-1 win, but instead, it needs to be at least a 4-1 or 5-2 victory and the big boys need to show up.

Matthews needs a goal or two and Marner needs a few assists. The power-play needs to be cooking and most importantly, there needs to be an intensity in their eyes while doing it.

As I mentioned from the top, this isn’t a do-or-die. Toronto can lose their next five games and still end up making the playoffs this year, but for their confidence, they need to win. Not only do they need to win for their own sakes, but they need to do it so that the fanbase doesn’t revolt.

This core is supposed to take us to the promised land, but if they lose to a winless Chicago team, it’s going to feel like they’re taking us straight to hell.