**Thoughts and Prayers to all of those who were Murdered and Injured today in the great city of Toronto……may those of you who are no longer with us, Rest In Peace**
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I’m batting a thousand when it comes to writing a winning Game Day Report for the playoffs, so we’ll have to keep the trend going.
My Leaf flag will hang in the living room again. I will drink the same type of beer, wear the same clothes, and I haven’t shaved in days. I’ll invite the same people over to watch the game and make them sit in the same spots on the couch as we did on Saturday. Whats for dinner? Same thing I ate on Saturday of course!!
All of this because we need some luck. We saw during game #5 that the NHL and the refs they employ will not do anything to help the Leafs on their way. Penalties were handed to our beloved Leafs for hitting the fists of some Bruins with their faces. Others for much less. Meanwhile, the Bruins were allowed full reign to do as they pleased. Hacking, slashing, bouncing our best players head off the ice….. no limits were reached.
I will say that the way the players handled the question from media about the matter was far more than commendable. They brushed it all off and paid respect to the talent level of the players they are facing. They came away with the win after all, so how angry can you get about it? They can’t.
But I can!!
This has been a sham of a series when it comes to officiating. In particular, it’s been ridiculous in the games played in Boston. According to NHL.com there have been 27 powerplays during this series, 17 of which have been handed to the Boston Bruins. Of those 17 they have had 16 awarded to them on home ice. Meanwhile, your Toronto Maple Leafs have have just 10 powerplay opportunities total, and 8 were awarded in Boston. At the end of the day this means the boys in Beantown are being a little too liberal with the whistles, while penalizing one team twice as much as the other, while the refs in Toronto have decided to not call anything. The players must see this and, I assume, Brad Marchand is delighted to go back to the ACC where he knows the refs don’t want to call much. I expect he’ll be extra filthy tonight.
Enough about that though, it’s the story of the day so I thought I’d give my take on it.
What they did best last game was hustle. Boston might be fast but your Leafs are faster. They need to keep using that speed and dig deep if they’re going to bring this series to game 7.
So this isn’t going to be about the refs, it won’t be about skill, and it won’t be about who gets the last punch in.
If they want to win it’s going to be about the size of the heart in their chests!! They need to want it more, and you know the fans will be there to cheer them on louder than ever!!
So let the refs intervene if they want, our PK will do the job they’re paid to do!! Let the NHL try to stand in the way, our kids in Blue and White will fight to the end anyway!! Let them all say we aren’t ready to compete!! Non-believers be damned!! Take it to the ice Leafers and show them all what it means to Bleed Blue!!!
GO LEAFS GO!!!
