Pre-Game Talk: Game 7: last chance for the core

[Alamo Leafer]

I wouldn't be able to curse @ an animal lover. No thanks.

 

[Tak7]

I think they're done.

There's no killer instinct here. I said repeatedly this season that jt was silly to buy into this narrative that they were more mature & wiser & calmer in big moments.

One team in this series has gotten progressively better, and the other is not only declining, but js now hurt.

 

[kb]

Matthews looks like his wrist is pooched again. Marner has been on milk cartons for all but 1 playoffs. He's been playing like a 3rd line PP specialist who can't get points on the PP. It proves he cannot generate shit on his own. Frustrating to watch.

 

[Bluelines]

Hmmm let's see, up 3-1 in a series .. Lose back to back games in Overtime after staging two multi-goal come backs.

Yeah this isn't going to end well at all.

My prediction: the Leafs jump out to a 2-0 lead early. Montreal cuts it to 2-1. The Leafs pull ahead 3-1 by the end of the second period. Montreal comes back and wins 4-3 i regulation. Because that's what this core does. Loses games in specularly different wants. Blowing a 3-1 series lead is just another different chapter in this embarrassing book.

I'm not ready to jump ship and say they lose in game 7 but your right it would be consistent with the gut punches we have received as fans over the last 10 years. If a team with the Rocket Richard, multiple players in the top 10 in scoring, can't score against the 4th seed.. well ... this team will be considered the biggest paper tiger in Leafs history.

I'm TBH in shock this series is going 7 games and the Habs came back from 3-1 down in the series. I shouldn't be considering we are talking about the Leafs but I am shocked.

 

[Jacquestrapless]

Perhaps it is time to reunite Nylander with Matthews. Shake things up. Other changes I foresee are Dermott playing with Holl and Hutton coming in if Muzzin is injured.

I don't know why they don't play like they did in OT for the entire game but they should. Babcock low-event hockey is not what this team should be about.

 

[Peasy]

I predict another 0 goal game from Matthews and Marner.

Another game 7 loss and embarrassing moment for this franchise. Book it.

 

[Ambassador Bridge]

I just hope that this game is not a one-goal nail-biter.
Get some goals and dominate.

 

[BodaciousBeefBazooka]

I predict another 0 goal game from Matthews and Marner.

Another game 7 loss and embarrassing moment for this franchise. Book it.

Most of the core cant show up when it matters most. Reading Marners post game statement about the game just makes me want to choke him. Inexcusable.

 

[The Blueprint]

Can not believe this is going 7... Shame on me for believing this year was different. They sure had me going.

 

[Neas Olc]

Unbelievable that people in this thread still think the Leafs can win. See you next year.

 

[Erndog]

Every year, no matter what, it ends up here... the same place.

This team is a cursed franchise.

It doesnt matter what they do, who they sign, what trades they make, what changes they make, it ALWAYS Ends the same.

 

[hoglund]

The best team doesn't always win in the playoffs, remember the best Tampa Bay got swept 1st round and last year Montreal who had no business even playing in the post season beat Pittsburgh. Toronto was the best in their division, but I don't know if they'll win or not.

 

[Peasy]

Can not believe this is going 7... Shame on me for believing this year was different. They sure had me going.

Haha I told myself I wouldn't feel any emotion/optimism until they actually made it out of the first round. When they were up 3-1 they pulled me in and got me believing a bit. What a fool I am.

 

[Fitzzy73]

Well Leafs fans we have seen this movie before, we know who dies at the end.

 

[Cor]

We’re cooked.

 

[Brown Dog]

It's almost hard to believe the series isn't already over after that gut-punch of a Game 6 (on the heels of the gut-punch ending of Game 5). Feels weird that there is still another game and of course I'm expecting the worst.

But what is the worst? Get dominated and blown out? Shut out? Blow a big lead? Make a big comeback and then fall short? Lose in OT after dominating that period?

I'm trying to prepare myself for every conceivable outcome because as numb and dejected as I feel right now, I know there will be that moment when the seed of optimism creeps back in. Maybe they can do it this time? Just maybe. You need to have that to be totally devastated.

 

[Mr Papagoergyo]

MTL is the weakest opponent they faced in this playoff. Going forward Jets play heavier same with Boston and Tampa they play hard.
Even making it further what does this team expect its not the regular season.
Being a fan of this Team sucks.

 

[Pi]

I have no hope of them winning at all. I am not sitting for three hours just to watch them lose another Game 7.

I know we'll lose in an epically painful fashion and I think I've seen plenty of those already to last a lifetime. I'll check the score at midnight or something and I'll be glad if I am wrong but everything that I know about this team since I've been watching them tells me that there is not a chance they are coming close to winning this game.

It just depends on how they want to lose this one?

Get a big lead and blow it?
Give them a big lead, come back and then lose?
Or my personal favorite: Just don't show up at all and lose from puck drop.

 

[ottomaddox]

I don't have much confidence in Keefe.

The power play alone is enough to doubt that they have what it takes to win.

 

[Mitch Matthews]

The best team doesn't always win in the playoffs, remember the best Tampa Bay got swept 1st round and last year Montreal who had no business even playing in the post season beat Pittsburgh. Toronto was the best in their division, but I don't know if they'll win or not.

Anyone that looks at it objectively would have to admit the North Division was a train wreck this year. All offense and very little defense. Leafs just happened to be the best from a bad lot of teams. If the Leafs played in any other division they would have finished 3rd at best. In the East, a good chance they don't even make the playoffs

 

[KPower]

2-0 for the Habs.

 

[JayfromNB1219]

simmonds - Matthews- Marner
Galchenyuk-kerfoot-nylander
Hyman- engvall-mikeyev
Thornton- foligno- spezza.

brooks in if foligno can’t go.

And straight up tell Simmonds if you aren’t running people over all game your a$$ will be nailed to the bench

 

[NiagaraKraken]

Some way, some how they are going to win. I still believe (I must be an idiot haha) I just still can’t see how they lose game 7. Eventually it’s all gonna click again like it did from games 2-4

 

[17 Clark]

Haha I told myself I wouldn't feel any emotion/optimism until they actually made it out of the first round. When they were up 3-1 they pulled me in and got me believing a bit. What a fool I am.

It’s called a sucker for punishment this team doesn’t know how to do anything easy no accountability and no one cares just show us the money The only ones that probably do are the Fringe players I wish I could go to work every day and just show up and do nothing And receive $11 million when you put on that Mapleleaf uniform there Has to be some pride or get out of here

 

[Brown Dog]

Of all the recent heartbreaks, this series is most reminiscent of 2019 against in Boston. We pulled out a super-gutsy one-goal win in enemy territory in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead going home. It felt like it might be our time. And when we opened the scoring in Game 6, we could taste it.

Of course we know how that game ended. And when we had to go back to Boston for Game 7, it was hard to feel any optimism. The opportunity had been there and missed already.

When we lost in Game 7 that year, there was mercifully minimal drama to it. Just a couple Freddy softies and that was it. No dagger, no single implausible, backbreaking moment to be burned into our collective memory forever. Maybe we'll be lucky and it will be like that again.