The Way It Has To Be
Round 1, Game 6: Leafs vs. Habs
Simon B
No words can describe how I feel at this moment. Normally I write these post-game pieces the morning after games so I get a chance to sleep on them and reflect. But not tonight! I'm not going to look at any notes, I'm going straight from the heart.
After all, this is the way life is. The Leafs go to game 7. Even when they dominated in games 2, 3, and 4 and it looked like they were cruising to a series win, I still doubted them based on one thing: the crest on their jersey. The part that annoys me the most about this is that every loss they've had in these playoffs has been avoidable. Game one: Tavares went down and they couldn't really pull it together, understandable. Game five: a terrible start where they storm back and have a chance to win in overtime but lose it on a horrendous turnover at the blue line. Game six: for the first 45 minutes of the game, it looked like they didn't want to be there! Frankly, I don't think they were there.
They handled Montreal with such ease in games 2, 3, and 4 that they expected wins to come easy. WAKE UP, GUYS! IT'S THE PLAYOFFS! Wins aren't just handed to you. The most frustrating thing is this whole collapse is that we know they can win. We saw them dominate in overtime, we saw them play with purpose in their three wins. They've given us a standard that they just couldn't seem to find last night.
The Good
There was only one thing that the Leafs did well. No scratch that. Jack Campbell was the only Leaf to have a great game. Sure Spezza and Brodie's goals were huge at the time but if it weren't for Jack, this game would've been 8-0 by the end of the first period. He has done everything, I mean everything, for this team since he was trusted in being their number one goalie. If (and that's the biggest if that ever iffed) the Leafs somehow exorcise their demons and win game 7, every guy in that locker room better use a portion of their salary (cause they're pretty much all making more than him) and get him something really nice because he would've saved their season.
But I'm getting way ahead of myself.
The point is, Campbell has kept them from getting blown out over the last two games, and without him, I wouldn't have a single ounce of hope for Monday's game.
The second thing that was cool about this game was the 2,500 fans in the building. They were electric and I think they're the reason why the Habs had such a good start. They made the Leafs look small and hopeless. It was a really hostile environment.
The Bad
This whole game was a chore to watch. Once Montreal made it 2-0, I just sat there, disgusted, in disbelief. Could this really be happening again? They blew a series lead again!?
Then Spezza and Brodie score and they wake up. Suddenly the way they were playing gave me confidence again. Then all of overtime they played insanely well and it felt like they finally were going to do it. It's gonna happen!
But Carey Price had other plans. Price was unbelievable in this game! My goodness, he was just stopping everything. As both goals were deflected they would have been pretty hard for any Leaf to stop, but everything else he played to perfection.
But I'm not going to point out a bad moment in this game. You wanna know what's bad? The Leafs managed to have a 3-1 series lead and now it's going 7. The crazy part is that no one is even surprised. It's the Leafs, of course, they blew it, of course, they managed to get it to 7, of course, they put their fans through a roller coaster of emotions just so that Jasperi Kokteniemi could hit the "stop this ride" button with 5 to go in the first overtime. It's agonizing, heart-wrenching, and painful to be a Leafs fan. And this is why: they get your hopes up but they'll always drop the ball. Puck.
Chat
Ok, guys. No wrap today I'm just going to have a good ol' chat with you for a bit
2013: I was in elementary school. The Leafs are up 4-1 in the third period against Boston so I'm told to go to bed because the game is practically over. I wake up the next morning, look at the front page of the newspaper, turn back to my mom and say "don't tell me they lost ''. That moment right there made me a lifelong Leafs fan. From that moment on, I knew I'd cheer for this team forever.
2017: They're up 2-1 in their first-round series against the Capitals and lose three straight to go down in 6 games.
2018: 4-3 lead in the third period against the Bruins in game 7, they lost 7-4.
2019: Up 3-2 in the series against Boston with a chance to close it out on home ice. They blow it and then get smashed 5-1 in game 7.
2020: Heavy favorites going into their first series in the bubble against Columbus, they get the series to go the distance and lose.
This is what I've witnessed since I became a die-hard member of Leafs Nation. I can't imagine what people much older than me -- like my Aunt Judy, who doesn’t mind me telling you that she was seven years old the last time the Leafs won the cup -- have gone through. It's truly amazing that every spring we feel the pain of playoff losses but every fall we come back for more. Shouldn't we have learned our lesson by now? It probably won't happen.
A lot of people tell me: "Simon give up, they're never going to win. Go cheer for the Penguins or the Golden Knights, at least they won't always let you down". The thing is that watching the Leafs play is different. I wouldn't feel the same cheering for someone else. I can't have binders full of Leaf Hockey cards, walls in my room painted the colors of the team, a bunch of Leafs clothes, a copy of the tickets to my first game framed on my wall, and figurines of all their players on my desk and just give up. I won't give up and no true Leaf fans will.
No matter what the outcome of Monday's game, I will still cheer for them until the day I die. I'll write about their offseason moves, and I'll certainly be watching when the puck drops for the 2021-22 season.
No matter what the outcome of Monday's game, I will still cheer for them until the day I die. I'll write about their offseason moves, and I'll certainly be watching when the puck drops for the 2021-22 season.
If I'm the Leafs, here's what I'm doing before game 7. I'm sending out a message to Leafs Nation telling fans to record a video or write a message to the team to let them know how long they've been a fan and what winning on Monday would mean to them. Then I want John Tavares to read some of these messages and show some of the videos sent in by fans to the team minutes before puck drop. JT has been a lifelong Leafs fan, he's been through pain but all he can do is sit and watch like the rest of us. He's gotta be the connection between the fans and the players Monday. The only thing the Leafs should be playing for on Monday is their fans. We've been there for them through everything they do, win or lose rain or shine. Now they've got to show us it was worth it.
It can be hard being a Leafs fan. It's a preparation for life's ups and downs!
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