Dealing with Last Night's Loss

[TML fan]

I expect the Leafs to miss the playoffs the next 3 years.

If they play like they did during this regular season, without question.

I don't understand this. They played well enough to be 5th in the conference. How is playing the same going to guarantee three years of missing the playoffs?

Advanced stats / corsi bro, apparently Leafs were the worst advanced stats team in the history of all professional sports so that means they can't reproduce their success of making the playoffs.

I don't even know what a Corsi is.

 

[Stickytape]

I expect the Leafs to miss the playoffs the next 3 years.

If they play like they did during this regular season, without question.

I don't understand this. They played well enough to be 5th in the conference. How is playing the same going to guarantee three years of missing the playoffs?

Advanced stats / corsi bro, apparently Leafs were the worst advanced stats team in the history of all professional sports so that means they can't reproduce their success of making the playoffs.

I don't even know what a Corsi is.

 

[TML fan]

I expect the Leafs to miss the playoffs the next 3 years.

If they play like they did during this regular season, without question.

I don't understand this. They played well enough to be 5th in the conference. How is playing the same going to guarantee three years of missing the playoffs?

Advanced stats / corsi bro, apparently Leafs were the worst advanced stats team in the history of all professional sports so that means they can't reproduce their success of making the playoffs.

I don't even know what a Corsi is.

I thought so!

 

[princedpw]

I expect the Leafs to miss the playoffs the next 3 years.

If they play like they did during this regular season, without question.

I don't understand this. They played well enough to be 5th in the conference. How is playing the same going to guarantee three years of missing the playoffs?

Advanced stats / corsi bro, apparently Leafs were the worst advanced stats team in the history of all professional sports so that means they can't reproduce their success of making the playoffs.

I don't even know what a Corsi is.

Corsi is basically just shots for (including both shots on net and shots that miss the net) minus shots against.

It's a simple concept.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I expect the Leafs to miss the playoffs the next 3 years.

If they play like they did during this regular season, without question.

I don't understand this. They played well enough to be 5th in the conference. How is playing the same going to guarantee three years of missing the playoffs?

Advanced stats / corsi bro, apparently Leafs were the worst advanced stats team in the history of all professional sports so that means they can't reproduce their success of making the playoffs.

I don't even know what a Corsi is.

Corsi is basically just shots for (including both shots on net and shots that miss the net) minus shots against.

It's a simple concept.

So you're saying it means everything.

 

[Mack674]

I expect the Leafs to miss the playoffs the next 3 years.

If they play like they did during this regular season, without question.

I don't understand this. They played well enough to be 5th in the conference. How is playing the same going to guarantee three years of missing the playoffs?

Advanced stats / corsi bro, apparently Leafs were the worst advanced stats team in the history of all professional sports so that means they can't reproduce their success of making the playoffs.

I don't even know what a Corsi is.

I actually wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see them finish 10th. As annoying as it is to keep hearing it, it's still true. This was an abbreviated season. The Leafs were holding down 6th 7th for a while there too... until they basically lost 15 games in a row.

Last night proved to me they are still very capable of sucking out in epic proportions.

 

[TML fan]

I expect the Leafs to miss the playoffs the next 3 years.

If they play like they did during this regular season, without question.

I don't understand this. They played well enough to be 5th in the conference. How is playing the same going to guarantee three years of missing the playoffs?

Advanced stats / corsi bro, apparently Leafs were the worst advanced stats team in the history of all professional sports so that means they can't reproduce their success of making the playoffs.

I don't even know what a Corsi is.

Corsi is basically just shots for (including both shots on net and shots that miss the net) minus shots against.

It's a simple concept.

Bathing is a simple concept to those who are familiar with it.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Should be required reading for dealing with the loss: http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/62023/torontos-game-7-gut-punch

 

[BermudaBudsFan]

I have to say that I have received calls and emails from friends who are fans of other teams and habitually rag on the Leafs and they have been very supportive.  I'm appreciative of that, because this one still really hurts.

I have moved from the immediate pain to a concern for the future and what could have been (and may still be).  I thought that regardless of how the series came out, the Leafs had played extremely well and there was real optimism for the sort of growth that can lead to really good things.  I'm not sure that is the case anymore.  These are the sorts of losses that I think can have a lingering effect on a group of players.  I suppose my fear is that all the positives and growth that would have come from this series may have been lost because of a bad 10 minutes of hockey.  That may sound silly and it probably is, but I think it may be the reality.  If they blow a lead in game one next season, does it become "here we go again"?

 

[Redleaf]

I expect the Leafs to miss the playoffs the next 3 years.

If they play like they did during this regular season, without question.

I don't understand this. They played well enough to be 5th in the conference. How is playing the same going to guarantee three years of missing the playoffs?

Advanced stats / corsi bro, apparently Leafs were the worst advanced stats team in the history of all professional sports so that means they can't reproduce their success of making the playoffs.

I don't even know what a Corsi is.

I actually wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see them finish 10th. As annoying as it is to keep hearing it, it's still true. This was an abbreviated season. The Leafs were holding down 6th 7th for a while there too... until they basically lost 15 games in a row.

Last night proved to me they are still very capable of sucking out in epic proportions.

With all due respect, I think the only thing that was proven last night was the fact that this Leafs team is still green around the gills when it comes to playoff hockey. They fell victim to the oldest rookie mistake in the books. They stopped skating when they thought they had the game in the bag.

I would much rather have that happen for ten minutes, (even if it was the most important ten minutes in years) than to have been an easy out every game of the series. You can learn from your mistakes on how to shut the door next time. You can't learn how to be more ambitious, fleet of foot or talented than a previous cup winning team. They showed during this run against the Bruins that they possess all these qualities, and then some.

No worries for me with this team moving forward. They will make the adjustments to correct the problem, and mature into a much better team because of it.

 

[maplesyrup]

Well, two days later and all I can say is I'm okay with never being okay with happened... Okay?  :-\ - Movin' on.

 

[armche123]

This loss could have came at any point. 

Great to have been back in the playoffs, and I love the direction this organization is heading in.

Bring on the Draft!

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Well, two days later and all I can say is I'm okay with never being okay with happened... Okay?  :-\ - Movin' on.

Geez, you never have to be okay with it!

Two thoughts, neither of which is particularly mind-blowing or original, but anyway:

1)  The Leafs weren't going to win the Cup, regardless of the outcome of that game.  I'm sure virtually all of us know that in our heads and probably our hearts, too.  And, yes, while a team is alive and playing, there's always a chance.  But they really weren't going to win the Cup, and surely you know that.  So what was the cost of the loss?  A handful of additional games that would have eventually ended in disappointment, multiple millions in playoff revenues that MLSE doesn't really need, some additional playoff experience for the team, and one really ugly night for all of us.  That's it.  It's not nothing, but in the end it's simply a fate met sooner and and more shockingly than it should have.

2) As others have remarked, in 2010, Boston choked in my estimation FAR worse than this (blowing both a 3-0 series lead, and a 3-0 lead in game 7), and they won the Cup the next year.  Like Potvin29 said, the "6 shots" Leafs team returned to the Conference finals a couple years later.  If you're worried about the team being permanently affected by this bad loss by a young team, I don't think your worries are founded.

To me as a Leaf fan, a far more devastating loss was to LA in 1993, because the team was getting ridiculously close to a Cup, and were screwed by both bad officiating and a subsequent inadequate performance.  And even then, the Leafs went right back to the Conference finals the next year.  The 1993 team was 5 wins from a Cup, the 2013 teams was 13 wins away.  This was a bad loss in what was ultimately a small stakes game.

 

[maplesyrup]

Thanks HS... I kind of needed that. 

 

[Kin]

Well, because nobody seems to have taken it as such/it wasn't all that funny a joke to begin with I'll come flat out and say that my post at the beginning isn't really genuine. All five paragraphs are just exaggerated/jokey representations of the Kubler-Ross 5 stages of grief(Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance).

I dealt with the loss the way I deal with all things. Sarcasm and drinking too much. That said...

An awful lot of people seem stuck on denial.

 

[Corn Flake]

How i've dealt:

Trying to look at the big picture... If you asked me before it started if I would take the Leafs in this series going to OT in game 7, i would have grabbed it and run.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Well, because nobody seems to have taken it as such/it wasn't all that funny a joke to begin with I'll come flat out and say that my post at the beginning isn't really genuine. All five paragraphs are just exaggerated/jokey representations of the Kubler-Ross 5 stages of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance).

I can only imagine how conflicted you were in the debate about whether or how soon the magician should reveal his secret when nobody actually saw the trick.

 

[Kin]

I would much rather have that happen for ten minutes, (even if it was the most important ten minutes in years) than to have been an easy out every game of the series.

That's a false dichotomy though. Sure, everyone would prefer a team take it to seven than get blown out and swept but this was a 4 seed vs. a 5 seed. There was no real reason to think that was going to be the case even if you did think that Boston presented the worst of all possible match-ups for the Leafs. To present not getting a demolished as a win in and of itself is expecting too little out of this team based on the season they had.

Seriously, when was the last time a team, at any seed came into the playoffs and got their doors blown off in four? This year the 8 seeds won 3 games in the first round. Last year the 8 seeds won 7 games in the first round.

The idea that the Leafs were some sisters of the poor underdog who were lucky to even be in the playoffs? That just does not correspond to the season we just watched.

 

[Kin]

Well, because nobody seems to have taken it as such/it wasn't all that funny a joke to begin with I'll come flat out and say that my post at the beginning isn't really genuine. All five paragraphs are just exaggerated/jokey representations of the Kubler-Ross 5 stages of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance).

I can only imagine how conflicted you were in the debate about whether or how soon the magician should reveal his secret when nobody actually saw the trick.

Well, I didn't imagine people would come in here and start actually talking about how they were dealing with the loss.

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Well, because nobody seems to have taken it as such/it wasn't all that funny a joke to begin with I'll come flat out and say that my post at the beginning isn't really genuine. All five paragraphs are just exaggerated/jokey representations of the Kubler-Ross 5 stages of grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance).

I can only imagine how conflicted you were in the debate about whether or how soon the magician should reveal his secret when nobody actually saw the trick.

Well, I didn't imagine people would come in here and start actually talking about how they were dealing with the loss.

If you b*tch it, they will moan.

Or something like that.

(Seriously, auto-censor, I can't say female dog...?)