For some reason, people really think that the Toronto Maple Leafs have slayed the dragon, known as the Boston Bruins, after defeating them in overtime on Tuesday night, but it's far from the truth..
Even if you're an uneducated Toronto Maple Leafs fan, you hate the Boston Bruins. You don't actually hate the players or the city, but you "sports-hate" them, which is a term that the great Bill Simmons uses all the time.
Sports-hate is a beautiful thing, especially when you're on the right side of it. There are multiple teams that Leafs fans sports-hate right now, but the teams that are currently at the top of the list are Boston, Montreal, Ottawa and maybe Florida.
Of those four rivalries, the Leafs are only on the right side of one of those right now. The Bruins, Canadiens and Panthers have all recently beat them in a playoff series, while Toronto has owned the Senators in the playoffs.
There will be small examples of sports-hate that happen throughout a regular season where maybe the opposition has a dirty hit on the Leafs, or someone like Drew Doughty comes in and says he loves to beat Toronto, but overall those are the four main teams, with Boston being at the forefront.
The rivalry between the Leafs and Bruins goes back to the Original Six days, but for those fans born in the 2000s, it starts with the Tuuka Rask trade. The Leafs traded away a Rask for Andrew Raycroft, who unfortunately didn't live up to his Rookie of the Year trophy, while Rask was one of the best goalies in the NHL for a decade.
Bruins Still Own the Leafs, Depsite OT Winner
The Bruins fleeced the Leafs and then they almost got their revenge in 2013, when they were up 4-1 against the Bruins midway through the third period of Game 7. Boston stormed back, eventually beating Toronto in overtime, in what will go down as one of the worst collapses in sports history.
Since 2013, the Leafs have faced the Bruins three more times in the playoffs, and the same exact same result happened. It wasn't as brutal as 2013, but in 2018, 2019 and as recently as 2024, Boston won Game 7, once again eliminating the Leafs from lifting a Stanley Cup.
The Leafs and Bruins have faced off 782 times, with Boston owning the all-time series 355-314-99-14, so it's a narrow lead, but the Leafs have not defeated the Bruins in a playoff series since 1959. Boston has won the last seven consecutive playoff series, and I'd put money on them to do it again, the next they face each other.
So although I loved seeing Mitch Marner score a breakway goal in overtime and the Leafs on the good side of a 5-4 victory, there's no world where I can say that the Leafs now own Boston, or that they've slayed the dragon.
Scoring a 3-on-3 goal in February is nice, but it's nowhere near the same adversity or pressure as scoring 5-on-5 when it means the most in April, May or June. Until the Leafs beat the Bruins in a playoff series, or Toronto can win a Stanley Cup, Boston still unfortunately owns the Leafs.