Victor Hedman (5 goals in all of last year, 7 in the prior 2 combined) scored the first two goals of the Tampa comeback, so Guy Boucher apparently made the decision (big mistake, IMO) of rewarding him with the first shootout attempt. Neither Stamkos nor Martin St. Louis were able were to make up for it either, resulting in a single-goal shootout loss to a goalie who, despite undeniably being one of the better goalies in the leagues, is apparently worse than .500 in shootouts. Such a glorious comeback for little more than a single point and the honor of still being called the loser. :cross:
We'll see. Everyone knows Toronto excels at blowing themselves up at some point.
I know it's been a long, long time, but do you remember who ended the Leafs last two trips to the playoffs? Yup, the Flyers. All the way back to the last two seasons before the lockout. Not the last one, but two lockouts ago.
Hehehe. Still just a tad little butthurt, I see. :fro:
But yeah, despite making the playoffs the year immediately preceding that lockout nearly a decade ago, Toronto is literally the ONLY team that has NEVER made it since. As I said earlier, I'm feeling particularly good about the Leafs' playoff chances this year, and especially given that they were the only actual such team, it would really be just damn near poetic for that playoff-less streak that began with a lockout, to be ended with a lockout.
But I am, of course, aware that "poetry" has absolutely no bearing on actual NHL results. Us Torontonians/Leafs fans aren't asking for all that much, though. We're not demanding the legendary vessel referred to as Lord Stanley's Cup, nor the Presidents' Trophy; neither conference championship nor even a division title. All we really want is to be just one among the freaking *MAJORITY* of teams that get to play even just a couple extra games after the end of the regular season, and the entire city - nay, most of the province, even - will in all likelihood experience one massive collective orgasm. Would be more than fine even just nabbing 8th seed and then done in 4. Being the very centre OF THE VERY CENTRE of the hockey universe and all, it truly does not amount to asking much; really, little more than begging for that most stale of crusts that just happens to get thrown out with all the other scraps from this veritable 200-day(-ish) long feast known to us as the National ****ing Hockey League. Please and thanks.