The Toronto Maple Leafs Broke A Decade Long Curse With Their 5-4 Overtime Win Last Night
Mike Carlson. Getty Images.May 13, 2013. A day which will life in infamy. Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals matchup between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins. Win and you advance, lose and you go home. Simple as that. And when Nazem Kadri scored 5 minutes into the 3rd period of that game to give the Leafs a commanding 4-1 lead, Toronto was already planning out their schedule for the next round.
But then with just over 10 minutes left in the 3rd period, Nathan Horton scored for Boston to make it a 4-2 game. Then Milan Lucic scored to make it 4-3. Then Patrice Bergeron scored to tie the game 4-4 and send it to overtime. And that's where Patrice Bergeron put the finishing touches on the curse to complete the 4-1 comeback and send Toronto home in overtime.
It was Toronto's first time making the playoffs since the lockout, and they haven't won a single playoff series since then either.
Fast forward to April 24, 2023.
The situation is obviously a little different considering last night wasn't a game 7. But Alex Killorn scored with just over a minute left in the 2nd period to give the Lightning a 4-1 lead heading into the 2nd intermission. I'm sure the Bolts went into the locker room during the break there thinking they tied the series up at 2 a piece, and could go take care of business in a best-of-3 series. The Leafs are cursed after all, right?
But turns out the only way to break a curse is to reverse you. You don't just get rid of a curse, you need to foist it onto someone else. And it looks like the Toronto Maple Leafs have finally found someone to take this curse off their hands a decade later. Because with just over 10 minutes left in the 3rd, Auston Matthews scored to make it a 4-2 game.
Matthews scored again just a few short minutes later to make it a 4-3 game. Then Morgan Reilly scored with under 4 minutes left in regulation to tie that bitch up and send it to overtime.
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As the saying goes, "IT WAS 4-1".
Not anymore. And in overtime it was Alex Kerfoot putting the finishing touches on reversing the curse and dumping it off onto Tampa.
Again, it's not exactly the same considering this wasn't a game 7. But it gives the Leafs a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. I am hereby willing to deem the "It Was 4-1" Curse lifted from the Leafs immediately.
HOWEVA….
Let's not act like that's the only curse that's plaguing the Leafs throughout the playoffs. It's not like they haven't had a 3-1 series lead at any point over the past decade. In fact, they had a 3-1 series lead against Montreal just 2 short years ago and they blew that series with the Habs rifling off 3 straight wins. So I'm not ready to completely walk back my take that the Leafs are the biggest losers and disappointment on the planet.
But I am starting to have just a few minor regrets about that one.
Bolts in 7.