THE BUSTED WINDOW OF CONTENTION WON'T STAY OPEN: THE NHL 2023-2024 SEASON THRED (INC KNIGHTS HANGOVER & PANIC MOVES. HOCKEY IS THE BEST)

nice

leafs . . . resilient! (strong attempt to blow it with idiotic late penalties tho)

islanders blow three-goal playoff lead for the first time in franchise history, get utterly dominated over the last 30 minutes, half the team gets misconducts for cheap-shotting people with under a minute left

lotta goals in the central this year

The Leafs are only the #2 hockey story in St. Marys (I assume they're at least that), where the Junior B Lincolns are trying to win the Sutherland Cup for the first time since 1976. They're in a round-robin with Fort Erie and Letterkenny Listowel right now, 1-1 so far--I think that's the final stage.

isles giving up three goals and the lead in the final 2 minutes was a low point of the year, and unfortunately also indicative of the season they’ve had. so many blown 3rd period leads. I wanted to get myself a game misconduct by the end, too.

a rare game in which both teams pulled the goalie

xp clemenza how far south/west of you do people start turning into detroit sports fans? or do you actually have to cross into michigan for that?

let's finally go to overtime (in florida)

(xpost) St. Marys is almost exactly halfways between Toronto and Detroit (just slightly closer to Toronto); a friend and I have July tickets to see the Dodgers in Detroit. I know my neighbor across the street is a big Tigers fan. To answer your question, my guess is there are many Tigers and Red Wings fans here (especially as London, which is 40 minutes away, used to field a Tigers farm team).

And two guys I bowl with hate the Leafs; one of them told me tonight he takes more pleasure from the Leafs losing, especially 7th games, than he does from his team, the Oilers, winning. Which is...weird!

This truly is the best time of the year

xp intersting thanks! i mean i knew that a *lot* of canada hates the leafs, but not that the hatred loomed quite so close

is there any possible way the kings win this in OT

No

otm

gah, can't believe i lost faith and turned it off in the second. GKG

rip bob cole

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b63sDrzPt9c

Aw :(

Damn

was not expecting bob to outplay vasilevskiy

TBL has been a little suspect this year, feels like they have lost a step

i think the islanders won every single faceoff in overtime

o the leafs

i don't even know what they should do! they could use better defense and goaltending i guess . . . but they have an astonishing forward group that just seems to not win playoff games

they've already got max domi and ryan reaves -- that's a lot of grit! are they supposed to trade nylander for cal clutterbuck or something?

running into the bruins in the first round doesn’t help

BROCK BOESER

what a fucking game

canucks did absolutely nothing all game, saved by the post on an empty net, and come out with the win

6+ periods, 32 SOG, 60 shots against, 2 wins

nobody realizes it, but you don't need to take shots to win

it's a bold strategy but you cannot argue with success

caps swept, zero points on six shots for ovi

appreciate it, but fuck the rangers too

is there any possible way the kings leafs win this in OT

My first thought when I read your question was, "Depends which is more painful--getting swept in five or losing in seven?" So I guess losing in seven must be worse.

they're still gonna lose but i respect the effort

if only the isles did not have *two* games where they gave up 2 goals 8-9 seconds apart…oof.

THE END
IS KNIES

fanbases that deserve better: winnipeg, buffalo

otm

leafs have held boston to four shots halfway through regulation but are not winning

i love their commitment to the bit

Boston can’t blow another 3-1 lead can they?

god bless the leafs for ramping up the heartbreak

(totally rooting for them, of course)

WILLY & THE
GREAT WOLL

Tonight I became a leaf’s sympathizer

what a moment for the vancouver canucks

Watched that game and had my opinion reenforced the kings are crud

I was in Cambridge this morning, so I was able to catch about an hour of call-in sports out of Toronto. Weird: a lot of it was about Nylander, or how much pressure was on the Bruins, or whether Matthews at 75% was a plus or a minus, etc., etc., but the whole time, you felt this, yes, invisible elephant in the room, that every caller and all the hosts knew exactly what's going to happen tonight.

Even I'm on edge, and I'm as bandwagon as it gets. I played tennis this afternoon with a paramedic in town who'll be working tonight; suggested he stay close to the phone if the Leafs fall behind by more than a goal.

i think it helps that they're kind of playing with house money -- no one expected them to win the last two, especially without matthews

worst-case scenario is, of course, they have a three-goal lead halfway through the third, and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdvoDFTcTLw

that was the most soul-crushing sports thing i've ever seen

Still remember a teacher I was working with at the time telling me about his grandson, five or six at the time and just becoming a fan, crying uncontrollably. Hooked for life, no doubt. Was thinking today about my own odd connection to the Leafs: born in Toronto, lived there till we moved 30 miles away in the summer of '67, a month or two after the last Cup (which I wasn't fan enough to remember--I became a fan for the next three or four years, till that got pushed aside for baseball around '71).

Boston can’t blow another 3-1 lead can they?

Well, Leafs are certainly the team to show them how it's accomplished

Baseball anxiety I can handle; hockey, much tougher.