Dealing with Last Night's Loss

[TML fan]

I had no idea that it was possible for an 18-wheeler to go right off a cliff twice.

Last year's collapse wasn't quite epic enough.

 

[Kin]

If you can't handle disappointment, you're cheering for the wrong team.

I think there's a fairly wide berth between being able to handle disappointment, and let's be real if you're older than, say, 11 and still a Leafs fan you've proven your ability to live with disappointment from the Leafs, and being able to be good with it immediately.

 

[Stickytape]

I think it's telling that my many Bruins fan friends are still eerily silent about last night.  I expected them to be gloating about the comeback on every social media platform available, but I've seen little more than a "Yes!"  And now I understand why.

Leafs fans are all obsessing over blowing the 4-1 lead, but my Bruins fan friends are still embarrassed about almost blowing a 3-1 series lead to the point where they needed an enormous third period comeback and an OT goal just to escape the series in 7.  They were almost insufferable after game 4, so confident, happy to go to any lengths to trash the Leafs; today they're just happy to be moving on and really would rather not talk about it.

As I've said elsewhere, I'm looking forward to the next season.  I want to see what this team can do with a healthy Lupul, with Gardiner who has cemented his position in the lineup, a confident Reimer as the clear #1, and now that Kessel can feel proud of his performance against the Bruins (especially compared to Seguin, if you must).  And I really really hope that guys like Grabovski and Kulemin can continue to work as hard as they did in this series, because we noticed and we want to see more.

I know it hurts that we came that close, but the other side of that coin is that we came that close.  If anyone here seriously expected them to get that close to beating Boston in this series, you're either psychic or a lunatic.  But that's changed now; we know the Leafs can give Boston a damn good run for their money. I can't wait to see these teams meet again, which is something I haven't felt in years.  Can you imagine how hard the Leafs are going to come out of the gate in the first game against Boston next year?  I want to see that now, and that anticipation feels awesome.

So I know it sucks to be out, but we have no right to be any more disappointed or frustrated than any of the other 22 teams who are out of this year's playoffs.  I'm impressed with just how far this team has come since placing 26th in the league last year, even in a space of only 48 games, and I won't let one period, no matter how ugly it was, define this season.

When does training camp start?  Hurry up already, let's do this.

 

[Zee]

I think it's telling that my many Bruins fan friends are still eerily silent about last night.  I expected them to be gloating about the comeback on every social media platform available, but I've seen little more than a "Yes!"  And now I understand why.

Leafs fans are all obsessing over blowing the 4-1 lead, but my Bruins fan friends are still embarrassed about almost blowing a 3-1 series lead to the point where they needed an enormous third period comeback and an OT goal just to escape the series in 7.  They were almost insufferable after game 4, so confident, happy to go to any lengths to trash the Leafs; today they're just happy to be moving on and really would rather not talk about it.

As I've said elsewhere, I'm looking forward to the next season.  I want to see what this team can do with a healthy Lupul, with Gardiner who has cemented his position in the lineup, a confident Reimer as the clear #1, and now that Kessel can feel proud of his performance against the Bruins (especially compared to Seguin, if you must).  And I really really hope that guys like Grabovski and Kulemin can continue to work as hard as they did in this series, because we noticed and we want to see more.

I know it hurts that we came that close, but the other side of that coin is that we came that close.  If anyone here seriously expected them to get that close to beating Boston in this series, you're either psychic or a lunatic.  But that's changed now; we know the Leafs can give Boston a damn good run for their money. I can't wait to see these teams meet again, which is something I haven't felt in years.  Can you imagine how hard the Leafs are going to come out of the gate in the first game against Boston next year?  I want to see that now, and that anticipation feels awesome.

So I know it sucks to be out, but we have no right to be any more disappointed or frustrated than any of the other 22 teams who are out of this year's playoffs.  I'm impressed with just how far this team has come since placing 26th in the league last year, even in a space of only 48 games, and I won't let one period, no matter how ugly it was, define this season.

When does training camp start?  Hurry up already, let's do this.

Nice sentiments and all, but here's what Lupul tweeted today:

That hockey game will haunt me until the day I die...

 

[Corn Flake]

Nice sentiments and all, but here's what Lupul tweeted today:

That hockey game will haunt me until the day I die...

Athletes use a game like that and the memory of it as motivation for the next one.  The real ones don't shrivel up and quit.  This stuff doesn't make them weaker - it will make them stronger. Something sports journalists have no concept of.

Beyond that, they will probably kick something every time they think of it.

 

[Kin]

If anyone here seriously expected them to get that close to beating Boston in this series, you're either psychic or a lunatic.

Or they just watched the Leafs actually play Boston this year. Only one game of the four wasn't close.

So I know it sucks to be out, but we have no right to be any more disappointed or frustrated than any of the other 22 teams who are out of this year's playoffs.

Oh come on. So the matter in which a team gets eliminated doesn't matter at all? I'm sorry but just stands in direct contradiction to what sports are.

 

[Stickytape]

Nice sentiments and all, but here's what Lupul tweeted today:

That hockey game will haunt me until the day I die...

That's how I felt last night, and I expect it will take the team a lot longer than it will take me, a fan, to get over it.

I'm not expecting anyone to forget it, or to feel all warm and fuzzy when they look back; I expect people to shudder, cross themselves, and maybe throw up in their mouths a little.  I know I will.  What I'm asking is that we don't let that one period define the series, nor the regular season, and especially not the team as a whole.

That's how I'm dealing with the loss.

 

[Bullfrog]

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?

 

[Zee]

Nice sentiments and all, but here's what Lupul tweeted today:

That hockey game will haunt me until the day I die...

Athletes use a game like that and the memory of it as motivation for the next one.  The real ones don't shrivel up and quit.  This stuff doesn't make them weaker - it will make them stronger. Something sports journalists have no concept of.

Beyond that, they will probably kick something every time they think of it.

Depends on the memory and the motivational abilities.  Some players can have fear of collapse over and over and it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. Not like every bad experience makes a player better, it could have the opposite effect, it depends on the person.  Maybe this experience helps some of the players and hurts others, we won't know until the future.

 

[Bonsixx]

The worst thing about this for me is that all the positives that could have been taken from this series, at least in the eyes of non-Leaf fans, is gone. Even if they had just come out and lost last night 6-1, or even if they'd just gotten edged 5-4 in a back and forth game, the positives would have still been there, shining brightly.

Now? They're right back to being a joke again. A complete punchline.

That's the worst thing.

 

[Zee]

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.

 

[Stronger Than All]

The worst thing about this for me is that all the positives that could have been taken from this series, at least in the eyes of non-Leaf fans, is gone. Even if they had just come out and lost last night 6-1, or even if they'd just gotten edged 5-4 in a back and forth game, the positives would have still been there, shining brightly.

Now? They're right back to being a joke again. A complete punchline.

That's the worst thing.

Just remember that all the people who make the Leafs into a punchline can kiss all of our collective you know whats! 

 

[Stickytape]

If anyone here seriously expected them to get that close to beating Boston in this series, you're either psychic or a lunatic.

Or they just watched the Leafs actually play Boston this year. Only one game of the four wasn't close.

I was hoping for the Leafs to continue to challenge Boston, and I wasn't counting on a sweep, but to say that I was expecting the series to come down to OT in game 7?  No way. 

The Bruins are a more experienced team that is built for playoff hockey; the Leafs have a lot of rookies who have never been tested in the post-season - there were a lot of unknowns.  I don't think there was reason to expect it to get that close.  Hoping, sure, but expecting?

So I know it sucks to be out, but we have no right to be any more disappointed or frustrated than any of the other 22 teams who are out of this year's playoffs.

Oh come on. So the matter in which a team gets eliminated doesn't matter at all? I'm sorry but just stands in direct contradiction to what sports are.

This is similar to that phenomenon you see in Olympic tournaments where the gold and bronze-winning teams are overjoyed, while the team finishing with silver is fighting back tears.  Maybe most people define things by the way they end, but I don't.

 

[ZBBM]

The worst thing about this for me is that all the positives that could have been taken from this series, at least in the eyes of non-Leaf fans, is gone. Even if they had just come out and lost last night 6-1, or even if they'd just gotten edged 5-4 in a back and forth game, the positives would have still been there, shining brightly.

Now? They're right back to being a joke again. A complete punchline.

That's the worst thing.

Just remember that all the people who make the Leafs into a punchline can kiss all of our collective you know whats! 

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.

 

[Stickytape]

The worst thing about this for me is that all the positives that could have been taken from this series, at least in the eyes of non-Leaf fans, is gone. Even if they had just come out and lost last night 6-1, or even if they'd just gotten edged 5-4 in a back and forth game, the positives would have still been there, shining brightly.

Now? They're right back to being a joke again. A complete punchline.

That's the worst thing.

Just remember that all the people who make the Leafs into a punchline can kiss all of our collective you know whats! 

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent.

Unless you're married.  Pretty sure that's in one of the vows or something.

 

[Kin]

I was hoping for the Leafs to continue to challenge Boston, and I wasn't counting on a sweep, but to say that I was expecting the series to come down to OT in game 7?  No way.

Ok. That's you. You were wrong. That's not to say there was no reason to think the Leafs would do it. It didn't require mystic powers. Just someone who was right-er about the various strengths and weaknesses of the two teams.

I get it. I was wrong about how it played out too. But this wasn't David and Goliath. It was two teams separated by 5 points.
 

This is similar to that phenomenon you see in Olympic tournaments where the gold and bronze-winning teams are overjoyed, while the team finishing with silver is fighting back tears.  Maybe most people define things by the way they end, but I don't.

I mean I applaud the sort of laissez-faireness of that but you're facing an uphill battle if you're trying to say that sports fans shouldn't define their feelings about a game by the final score.

 

[Stickytape]

I was hoping for the Leafs to continue to challenge Boston, and I wasn't counting on a sweep, but to say that I was expecting the series to come down to OT in game 7?  No way.

Ok. That's you. You were wrong. That's not to say there was no reason to think the Leafs could do it. It didn't require mystic powers. Just someone who was right-er about the various strengths and weaknesses of the two teams.

I get it. I was wrong about how it played out too. But this wasn't David and Goliath. It was two teams separated by 5 points.

Fair enough.  I probably got a little carried away there.

This is similar to that phenomenon you see in Olympic tournaments where the gold and bronze-winning teams are overjoyed, while the team finishing with silver is fighting back tears.  Maybe most people define things by the way they end, but I don't.

I mean I applaud the sort of laissez-faireness of that but you're facing an uphill battle if you're trying to say that sports fans shouldn't define their feelings about a game by the final score.

No, no, I mean that they shouldn't define their feelings about the whole season by the outcome of the last game, even if it's a playoff game.

When it comes to how I feel about last night's game, the fact that it was a playoff game, the fact that it was game 7, that it was against the damn Bruins, that they blew the lead, that they collapsed in epic, and even familiar fashion - it all adds up to a serious amount of pain.

But that's that game.  When I think about the season as a whole, I think about the season as a whole, not just that one game, or that one period.  And certainly when I think about next season, I realize that I have much more to look forward to than to dread.

It's tempting, natural even, to wallow in last night's misery, but I don't think we have to and I don't think we should.

Besides, if I was afraid of uphill battles I wouldn't still be a Leafs fan.

 

[Kin]

No, no, I mean that they shouldn't define their feelings about the whole season by the outcome of the last game, even if it's a playoff game.

I agree in a general sense even though the reality is that final game does sort of place a team in the firmament. I mean, the Leafs were a team that got knocked out of the playoffs in the first round in heartbreaking fashion. They absolutely should be seen as that in total which includes the accomplishment of making the playoffs.

That said where I objected is the idea that we shouldn't feel more frustrated than another team despite the actual circumstances of how they lost. A loss in, as you put it, epic fashion will lead to more frustration and disappointment than another kind of loss. That's not just natural, that's true. That's universal. I don't think acknowledging that necessarily constitutes wallowing in it.

 

[Stickytape]

No, no, I mean that they shouldn't define their feelings about the whole season by the outcome of the last game, even if it's a playoff game.

I agree in a general sense even though the reality is that final game does sort of place a team in the firmament. I mean, the Leafs were a team that got knocked out of the playoffs in the first round in heartbreaking fashion. They absolutely should be seen as that in total which includes the accomplishment of making the playoffs.

That said where I objected is the idea that we shouldn't feel more frustrated than another team despite the actual circumstances of how they lost. A loss in, as you put it, epic fashion will lead to more frustration and disappointment than another kind of loss. That's not just natural, that's true. That's universal. I don't think acknowledging that necessarily constitutes wallowing in it.

It feels like we're largely in agreement; I wasn't very clear when I was talking about not feeling more frustrated or disappointed than fans of other teams - I meant in the larger sense.  Sorry for any confusion.

 

[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.

They had an historically high SH% at ES of 11%, I think I read that no team has had back to back seasons of higher than 9% or something.  So it's expected that over time that number would fall back towards the league average, making it tougher on the team to have sustained success, especially if being consistently outshot.  The goaltending/defence would then have to be at a very, very high level.