The Toronto Maple Leafs scored two goals in the final minutes of the third period to earn a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday night. But it was more of an annoying game where they managed to get the full two points, than anything that felt like a positive step forward.
In any other circumstance than this current Maple Leafs season, seeing Auston Matthews score in vintage fashion to tie the game and then a key offseason addition like Dakota Joshua score the game-winner just eight seconds later, would have been electric. It got Scotiabank Arena to actually cheer for the team after all. But it is hard to ignore that any win like that feels pointless.
The Leafs simply looked like an amateur team trying to try their luck against better competition for most of the game on Tuesday. The Chicago Blackhawks -- without star Connor Bedard, we might add -- just ran rampant over the Leafs in their own arena and it was yet another example of how this team is just not built to be a true contender or even anything close to something that can win a playoff round. So for the Leafs to withstand that, perservere with just a one-goal deficit for most of the game, and then to come crawling back and earn two points without having the upper hand during the game, is extremely annoying.
There is a creeping feeling after the Leafs start to expose themselves as a very mediocre team led by a superstar talent underperforming and goaltending continue to cover up a whole lot of mistakes when it can, that this season is a little pointless. Something needs to happen for this team to turn a corner and there is a growing sentiment that they won't be able to do that with this current management, coaching staff, and even roughly 80% of the current roster.
Maybe it's not the feeling you should have when your favourite team managed to squeak by with a win, but it always feels like we're asking ourselves "To what end?" more and more this Leafs season.