R1G7: Leafs @ Bruins - May 13th, 7:00pm - CBC, TSN 1050

[CarltonTheBear]

I had to bite my lip throughout the series as to not bring it up, but my ire for the Rask trade continues to intensify. To know he was ours and now he is beating us with a division rival and looking stellar doing so just sickens me.

That was easily my favourite draft ever. Going in I really wanted Rask, but didn't think he would fall. I remember listening to the radio at work when they picked and didn't even know he was still on the board. I was so pumped.

Next year, not so much.

 

[bustaheims]

I had to bite my lip throughout the series as to not bring it up, but my ire for the Rask trade continues to intensify. To know he was ours and now he is beating us with a division rival and looking stellar doing so just sickens me.

Really, that's the worst of all the trades the Leafs have made in the past decade.

 

[Capital Leaf]

They played a prevent at the end and all that often does is prevent you from winning.

Refs were brutal too...one call in the 3rd (there was a few to choose from) and we would have won...

 

[Kin]

I had to bite my lip throughout the series as to not bring it up, but my ire for the Rask trade continues to intensify. To know he was ours and now he is beating us with a division rival and looking stellar doing so just sickens me.

Really, that's the worst of all the trades the Leafs have made in the past decade.

In a value for value sense? Sure. That said, the same weekend they traded Rask they drafted Reimer so how much it really ended up, or will end up, hurting the team is debatable.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I want to wax lyrical about how they earned respect etc and it will stand them in good stead going forward, but I wonder if losing in this fashion will be damaging to the psyche of the core group of players here.

I'm heartbroken, I want to get lost in a bottle of hard liquor or punch multiple holes in a wall.

ummm...this was a team not even picked to make the playoffs by most...then they get the one team that has DOMINATED them over the last few years and they take them to game seven overtime.  yeah it sucks that they game up 2 goals in the last 1:30 when they should have won but do you think that any of gardiner, phaneuf, reimer, kessel, lupul, and any others of the leafs core haven't had heartbreaking losses ever?

they are professionals and they will bounce back next season and will be better for this experience.

I hope you're right.

If this group doesn't have a major success, which honestly, I don't see without significant upgrades, this game will define their legacy.

I hope I'm wrong in thinking this, we'll see.

 

[Sundin13]

We all need a hug...

This is so true... But still thinking this was a very good lesson for the young Leafs team.

 

[Stickytape]

All I have to say is that OT in game 7 is way more than I expected from this series.  The Leafs pulled back from being down 3-1 in the series.  Yeah, they collapsed at the end in epic fashion, but they were ahead 4-1 in the first place, which blows my mind.

This rivalry isn't over - if anything, it's only just beginning.

This was a 48-game season that I didn't even think was going to happen.  They finished in the top 10 in the league, made the playoffs, and gave Boston, of all teams, a run for their money.  I'm looking forward to seeing what's possible next year.

 

[Kin]

I want to wax lyrical about how they earned respect etc and it will stand them in good stead going forward, but I wonder if losing in this fashion will be damaging to the psyche of the core group of players here.

I'm heartbroken, I want to get lost in a bottle of hard liquor or punch multiple holes in a wall.

ummm...this was a team not even picked to make the playoffs by most...then they get the one team that has DOMINATED them over the last few years and they take them to game seven overtime.  yeah it sucks that they game up 2 goals in the last 1:30 when they should have won but do you think that any of gardiner, phaneuf, reimer, kessel, lupul, and any others of the leafs core haven't had heartbreaking losses ever?

they are professionals and they will bounce back next season and will be better for this experience.

I appreciate the optimism here but I don't necessarily think things work that way. In fact, I think it's routine to the point of cliche that a team takes motivation from the fact that people didn't believe in them or that they were underdogs. For a team like the Leafs, who you'd have to hope never bought into the idea that they weren't good enough to make the playoffs and then weren't good enough to beat Boston, I don't think they're then going to automatically sit around after they beyond a shadow of a doubt proved that they were on Boston's level but just couldn't get it done and take that as a positive.

I'd like to hope they do. I'd like to think that guys will take this as a tough lesson about what it means to really succeed but there's no way to know that. Discouragement happens, stagnation happens. Even to professionals. There have been a ton of super-talented young teams over the years that got into the playoffs, took tough defeats and then...never really accomplished much.

It's a wait and see thing unfortunately. That's the great/awful thing about being a sports fan. You don't know how it'll play out.

 

[pnjunction]

I'm looking forward to seeing what's possible next year.

I can't help but feel this is all we get to suck on for a while.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

You know what, I didn't wanna make another GDT anyways.

 

[Sundin13]

You know what, I didn't wanna make another GDT anyways.

Thank you for all the good spirit. You did your best, actually all of us did almost there, the Leafs did it going to game 7 and bringing so much we could believe in it. Wasn't this time, but this team was really playing good with a great opponent. They will be better next season. That's hockey.

 

[Captain Canuck]

It stings to know we were oh so close to pulling a big upset, but in the end I'm still extremely proud of the Leafs and what they accomplished this season.

 

[Stronger Than All]

I honestly still can't believe it.  Unfortunately for us this will be talked about a lot and I rather just move on.  Especially the damn leafs haters

I missed OT getting my son to sleep, checked my phone before turning the tv back on.  Game 5 I was just happy to live another day and here we are now. 

I just really hope they're forward and next year isn't a let down.  I like the core of this team.

Ya know what at 4-1 I was looking forward to coming on here after the game and seeing how crazy everyone was going, in a good way,

 

[Heroic Shrimp]

Oh well.  As awful a choke job as this performance was, and it was really, really bad, I don't think my disappointment from this game and series ranks in my top 3 or maybe even top 5 most disappointing ends to the playoffs for the Leafs.  Whether that's a reflection on how many years I've watched or how I've mellowed over the years, I don't know.  Losing to LA was easily the worst.  Losing to Vancouver really sucked.  Losses to Jersey and Philly were awful.  Those were all way, way more bitter for me than this one.

I knew their playoffs would end in a loss.  It came later than I expected, and in a worse fashion.  So it goes.

 

[pnjunction]

Well they leaned back on Reimer all series until he finally broke.  I feel bad for him he did just about everything humanly possible to get them to the next round.

 

[pnjunction]

I was holding off and looking forward to ragging on how cold Seguin was all series long.  Now I've got to choke all that down maybe I'll ask the Leafs for advice on how to do that.

 

[sneakyray]

I want to wax lyrical about how they earned respect etc and it will stand them in good stead going forward, but I wonder if losing in this fashion will be damaging to the psyche of the core group of players here.

I'm heartbroken, I want to get lost in a bottle of hard liquor or punch multiple holes in a wall.

ummm...this was a team not even picked to make the playoffs by most...then they get the one team that has DOMINATED them over the last few years and they take them to game seven overtime.  yeah it sucks that they game up 2 goals in the last 1:30 when they should have won but do you think that any of gardiner, phaneuf, reimer, kessel, lupul, and any others of the leafs core haven't had heartbreaking losses ever?

they are professionals and they will bounce back next season and will be better for this experience.

I hope you're right.

If this group doesn't have a major success, which honestly, I don't see without significant upgrades, this game will define their legacy.

I hope I'm wrong in thinking this, we'll see.

This team came back from a pretty devastating loss in game 4 to win 2 more games when pretty much everybody thought they were done.

This is a team who has significant players in their early 20's (kadri, gardiner, jvr...hell even kessel and reimer are only 25) so even without major additions they should be better next year.  I am personally pretty interested to see what they do this off-season because they do have some money to play with as well.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

why

 

[sneakyray]

I'll tell you one thing I am pissed about...the reffing was bad

jvr with a broken beak...no call(wonder if the league looks at it as a blatant hit to the head?)
fans litter the ice and are given a warning

bruins throw out a water bottle to purposely stop a faceoff and nothing...not to mention all the crap that went un-called (see marchand tripping reimer behind the net)

brutal...but I think the refs probably didn't think any of this would matter with the leafs being up until late.

 

[Stickytape]

I'm looking forward to seeing what's possible next year.

I can't help but feel this is all we get to suck on for a while.

That's how it goes when your team gets knocked out of the playoffs.  It has to happen to 15 teams sooner or later, every year.  I know the collapse/comeback stings badly, but you have to have perspective on these things, too.  Look how far this team has come in one half season; I'm not going to let myself feel disappointed that they didn't turn around and win the cup outright.

So I'm looking forward to a full season with a healthy Lupul, a proven Gardiner, and Reimer as the clear #1 netminder.  I'm done dreading Bruins games - I'm looking forward to them more than any other.  I wish they could play them again tomorrow night because I know these guys can take em.