We're deep in hockey play-off season and, as usual, the Toronto Maple Leafs are deep in a hole and deep in controversy.
In recent years, they have had a good team, or at least a team of good players, but they never seem to make any headway when the playoffs come around. This year they easily topped the Eastern Conference, and relatively easily won their first round series against the Ottawa Senators.
In the second round, though, they squandered a 2-0 early series lead over the Florida Panthers, losing three straight, the last game by an embarrassing 6-1 margin at home. The further they go, the worse they seem to get. In the last game, they seemed to move sluggishly, lost most one-on-one battles on the boards, turned over the puck repeatedly, and had hardly any shots on goal.
As usual, the worst culprits were their "best" (i.e. most expensive) players, the ones that contributed so much during the regular season - Marner, Matthews, Tavares. (Matthews has underperformed all season and must be injured, I would say.) Nielander and Knies still seem to have a bit of energy about them at this point, and, to be fair, Joseph Woll is just the back-up goalie after star performer Stolarz was taken out of the series with an egregious hit. So, it's hard to blame him but, nevertheless, the Maple Leafs' goaltending challenges persist. And the fans? Well, you know how they're reacting, and that doesn't help.
All of this to say: I don't understand how this keeps happening every year. It's almost suspicious. I don't mean in a "curse" way; I don't believe in that stuff. But is it possible that there is some underhand skullduggery going on? Some sort of collusion? Some illegal bending of the betting rules? Might some members of the team be deliberately underperforming?
I know it seems improbable but as Sherlock Holmes says, "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".
UPDATE
Well, it just goes to show you shouldn't believe conspiracy theories, especially not your own personal conspiracy theories.
In Game 6 of the Florida Panthers series, the Toronto Maple Leafs of the first two games were back, and they won 2-0, forcing a Game 7. So, the dream lives on *sigh* .
And the scorer of that all-important first goal? Perennial playoff under-performer Auston Matthews, assisted by perennial playoff under-performer Mitch Marner. I think they just do it to spite me.
Of course, it could just be a way of extending the fix even further, but I don't know any more. An alternative interpretation might be that the Boys in Blue read my blog, realized what they were doing wrong, and pivoted accordingly,. But I'm not sold on that theory either.
Nevertheless, an exasperatingly inconsistent team, and it makes them so hard to support.
UPDATE UPDATE
Well, it was just a mirage, and now we are back where expected to be. It's comforting in a way, comforting but depressing.
Toronto lost Game 7 - again - to the Panthers. No, they were decimated, crushed. It was Game 5 all over again. Apart from a brief interlude (the second half of the first period), presumably designed just to taunt us, they were slower, less accurate, less aggressive - LESS ENGAGED - than Florida, who skated rings around the Leafs, outshot them 34-20, and outscored them 6-1. This was Toronto's seventh consecutive loss in a winner-take-all playoff game. Hmm...
This may have been Toronto's last best shot at a Stanley Cup for a while. Those skillful, expensive players are almost certainly going to be moving on, hopefully to be replaced by younger, less entitled, more hungry talents.
And for the long-suffering fans? Well, it's business as usual. Meanwhile, the conspiracy theory is looking pretty solid to me.
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