Tag: Toronto Maple Leafs

Matt Murray trade: Who won the Maple Leafs and Senators deal?

The Maple Leafs got their starting goaltender in Matt Murray.

The Toronto Maple Leafs have their starting goaltender for next season.

On Monday, the Maple Leafs acquired 28-year-old Matt Murray from the Ottawa Senators less than 48 hours ahead of free agency. With this deal, the goaltender market continues to thin out for the rest of the league as the netminder musical chairs moves apace this offseason.

While not a blockbuster trade like the one that sent Alex DeBrincat to the Senators on draft day, this move has major implications for the Maple Leafs future after another disappointing Game 7 loss in the first round of the playoffs. Let’s take a look at how the Maple Leafs and Senators grade out on this deal ahead of the upcoming free agency period on Wednesday.

Lightning could join this extremely exclusive club with comeback from 3-1 series deficit in Stanley Cup Final

The only other team to make history isn’t one you’ll expect.

The Lightning had their backs against the wall on Friday night in Denver. But Tampa Bay didn’t fold. Already down 3-1 in the series in the Stanley Cup Final to the Colorado Avalanche (-1.5), Andrei Vasilevskiy and co. responded the way you’d expect any two-time defending champion to do: with desperation and heart.

Thanks to their 3-2 win on the strength of Ondrej Palat’s clutch goal, the Lightning put themselves nearly on the brink of membership to one of the NHL’s more exclusive clubs. We’re talking about them becoming one of the only squads in the entire league’s history to come back from a 3-1 series deficit in a Cup Final.

Who’s the only current squad to have managed such an achievement? Go ahead. I’ll give you one guess. Really think about it because it’s not a franchise you’ll expect.

…

Stumped? Okay, here goes: (For now) the 1942 Maple Leafs are the only team to ever come back from 3-1 in a Stanley Cup Final when they beat Ebbie Goodfellow’s Red Wings. Take a bow Syl Apps!

Of course, the Lightning still has a ways to go before they can match the Leafs. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible.

Unfortunately, they’ll never be able to match Toronto in one spot: the Leafs actually came back from a 3-0 series deficit. Oh well. I’m sure no one in Tampa Bay would begrudge the comeback anyway.

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Here’s one sad stat that perfectly showcases the Maple Leafs playoff misery

The Maple Leafs are a cursed franchise.

Toronto Maple Leafs fans live in a very specific sports hell no one else can even begin to comprehend.

Sure, the Detroit Lions lay claim to the title of the most miserable sports franchise of our modern era. But the difference between the Lions and the Maple Leafs is that Toronto wins, but never when it matters.

On Saturday, the Maple Leafs bowed out in Game 7 of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. They did so against the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in the Tampa Bay Lightning in a hard-fought 2-1 loss. While the Maple Leafs didn’t utterly embarrass themselves in this series, it’s still a real heartbreaker of a loss to take because Toronto were in it until the bitter end.

The loss also marks a nearly unbelievable statistic that showcases just how miserable of a time the Maple Leafs have had in recent history. The Maple Leafs are the first team in the history of the NHL, MLB, and NBA to lose five-straight elimination games in the first round.

Let’s take a jump back in time, shall we?

  • 2017–18: Lost in Game 7 to the Boston Bruins in the first round.
  • 2018–19: Lost in Game 7 to the Boston Bruins in the first round.
  • 2019–20: Lost in Game 5 to the Columbus Blue Jackets in the qualifying round.
  • 2020-21: Lost in Game 7 to the Montreal Canadiens in the first round.
  • 2021-22: Lost in Game 7 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round.

It doesn’t get more gut-wrenching than that, honestly. The last time the Maple Leafs got out of the first round? The 2003–04 season, nearly 20 years ago! So, if you can, spare a thought or two for any Maple Leafs fans in your life. They certainly need it right now.

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Penguins fan hilariously turns his cap around after a TV camera mistakes him for a sad Maple Leafs fan

Good call, man. No one wants to be mistaken for a Leafs fan after what happened Saturday night.

While the rest of the NHL had their laughs, Saturday night had to be a familiar nightmare for the city of Toronto. After the Maple Leafs lost another first-round Game 7 to the Lightning (+105), Torontonians would be forgiven if they wanted to take a mental health day.

Heck, when the Leafs’ coach is taking positives from handshake lines — seriously, handshake lines — it’s enough to drive any rational person mad.

As you can imagine, the Leafs’ ongoing playoff misery is a problem no one else wants a part of. We got firsthand evidence of this phenomenon immediately after Toronto’s latest spring failure.

With TV cameras on the hunt for shots of sad Leafs fans Saturday evening, they panned to a young man chatting it up. Ever the telegenic lad, he flipped his backwards cap around to reveal he’s a Penguins fan.

Honestly, who can blame him? The Leafs have proved they’re only capable of giving you heartache. By contrast, with all their Stanley Cups and general playoff success, the Penguins can make you fall madly in love with hockey. It’s not even a contest.

Maybe one day, someone corrects a TV broadcast and reveals they’re a Leafs fan. But today is definitely not that day. Who knows when it’ll ever come.

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Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said the lamest thing after Game 7 loss and NHL fans ripped him

Uh, what?

The Toronto Maple Leafs had their season come to an end once again in the first round of the playoffs last night as they lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 at home in yet another Game 7.

The Leafs, who were roasted by fans after the loss, blew a 3-2 series lead against the NHL’s defending champs and haven’t gotten out of the first round since 2004.

Brutal times once again for the Leafs and their fans.

After the loss Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe had a really lame take on his team and the handshake line, saying:

“We got a lot of respect in that (handshake) line from that team, which is nice to see. It was a much different tone and much different feeling of respect from the other side from what we’ve experienced previously. We’re certainly earning respect in the league but, again, we’re not in the respect game. We’re in the winning game.”

Seriously, he said that:

I guess that’s a positive to take away from another season-ending loss?

I dunno, man, that sounds pretty lame to me.

Twitter had reactions.

The Leafs lost another Game 7 in the first round and NHL fans couldn’t wait to roast them

We feel bad for the city of Toronto, but this is tremendous content.

Objectively speaking, the Leafs are one of the NHL’s best teams.

A 60-goal scorer in Auston Matthews. One of the best pure passers in the league in Mitch Marner. John Tavares as the second line center. Steady playmaking veterans like William Nylander and Mark Giordano on the third line and third defensive pair, respectively.

And yet, it never seems to matter come playoff time.

On Saturday night, the Leafs (-125) lost 3-2 to the two-time defending champion Lightning in another first round Game 7. A tough matchup aside, everything was, once again, in Toronto’s favor. That mentioned talented roster. A once 3-2 series lead. Home ice!

And yet, none of it mattered. The Leafs are cursed, right? They have to be cursed.

Oh. My. Goodness. Yeah, the Leafs are definitely cursed.

We’re watching historic failure in the clutch unfold right before our eyes. Until Toronto can win a single (emphasis: SINGLE) playoff series with all that talent and all those advantages on their side, it’s the only logical conclusion.

Of course, these are the playoffs, and spite reigns supreme. NHL fans couldn’t wait to revel in the latest Leafs’ playoff fiasco.

Justin Bieber’s Mother’s Day post about the Maple Leafs came right before Toronto’s horrible loss

Justin Bieber really cursed the Maple Leafs on Sunday.

Justin Bieber’s Mother’s Day post couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

On Sunday, Bieber posted a real sweet picture for Mother’s Day on Instagram of him and his mother — Pattie Mallette — standing next to and touching the Stanley Cup. Bieber, a noted Maple Leafs super fan, used the short message to talk about his favorite team, who are currently embroiled in a slugfest of a first round playoff matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“Happy Mother’s Day mom, we’re gonna bring back lord Stanley’s Cup to Toronto this year and it will be beautiful,” the message read.

Pretty sweet, right?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CdTfl_uFA2u/

Unfortunately for Bieber, and the Maple Leafs, Toronto took an absolute 7-3 beating from Tampa Bay in Game 4 just hours after the pop star posted this. Now, the series is tied 2-2 headed back to Toronto in a best-of-three to determine who moves on to the next round.

While the post is a sweet one from Bieber, that’s still a big old yikes right there!

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Maple Leafs’ Kyle Clifford was ejected 10 minutes into Game 1 of the playoffs after this brutal hit

This was so unnecessary from Clifford.

This is certainly not the start to the playoffs Kyle Clifford would have wanted.

During Monday’s Game 1 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning, Clifford was given a game misconduct and was ejected for an absolutely brutal hit on Ross Colton. Less than 10 minutes into the game, Clifford plastered Colton on the boards from behind with an elbow that immediately drew the referees’ attention.

It didn’t take long for the referees to tag Clifford with a boarding call and a game misconduct, ejecting him from the game and putting the Lightning on a five minute major.

Yeah that’s… not great from Clifford! Here’s another angle that shows just how brutal it was.

That was one hundred percent unnecessary from Clifford, as the puck was gone from Colton’s stick before he even got there. It remains to be seen if Clifford will earn a hearing from the Department of Player Safety for this one.

Thankfully for the Maple Leafs, the team survived the five-minute major and ended up taking a 1-0 lead on the Lightning at the end of the first period.

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A look at the history the Raptors are up against with their 3-0 comeback attempt against the 76ers

The Raptors are trying to join a pretty exclusive club across sports

The Toronto Raptors are trying to make a little bit of NBA history by becoming the first team in the league to ever come back from a 3-0 deficit. A game 6 win tonight would go a long way for them.

But there’s so much history available to us that says this just will not happen. We’ve seen this so many times.

Teams have taken a 3-0 lead 145 times in the history of the NBA, per Land of Basketball. Obviously, those teams have gone on to win the series each and every time. Only 3 of those games have made it to a Game 7.

So, clearly, the Raptors are facing an uphill battle. But, the thing is, a 3-0 comeback is bound to happen at some point.

If the Raptors were to pull that off, they’d be the 6th team in the history of the major North American sports leagues

Notre Dame’s Max Ellis, Graham Slaggert make pro debuts for same team

A proud day for the Irish.

Max Ellis and Graham Slaggert gave all they could to Notre Dame. Now, it’s time for them to move on and begin their professional careers. As luck would have it, they both remain teammates with the Toronto Marlies, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ AHL affiliate. As further luck would have it, they made their pro debuts on the same day. The Marlies made sure to document the moment on social media:

Neither player, nor fellow former Irish teammate Alex Steeves factored into the Marlies’ 4-1 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins. However, Ellis had a few scoring chances that were worth documenting:

Slaggert played in a role in setting up another chance:

All three former Notre Dame players will hope to contribute as the Marlies continue their push for the Calder Cup playoffs. With Steeves having been around the entire season except for three games with the Maple Leafs, he is sure to show his former-turned-current teammates the ropes. It should be fun for all of them.