Jack Todd: May the Maple Leafs finish 56 years of playoff futility?

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The Toronto Maple Leafs needed to surprise what had modified once they had been booed off the ice Tuesday evening.

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5 days earlier, the notoriously robust crowd on the Bell Centre had showered the Canadiens with love on the finish of a misplaced season, after the best dynasty within the sport failed to succeed in the 70-point mark.

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But right here had been the Leafs, for many years beneficiaries of probably the most tolerant fan base and probably the most sycophantic media in sports activities, leaving the ice to a cascade of boos after a depressing first interval left them trailing the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-0.

What new factor was this? The quietest area within the NHL out of the blue roaring to life, the often tractable crowd reworked right into a fire-breathing dragon? Didn’t they know that the Leafs had received 50 video games on the season?

Within the quick time period, a minimum of, the out of the blue demanding crowd in Toronto had a optimistic impact. The Leafs roared again in Recreation 2 to match the transformed landing the Lightning put up in Recreation 2, little doubt touching off the same old mini-Cup parade on Yonge St.

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Was this the pivotal second for a workforce that hasn’t escaped the primary spherical since 2004 and hasn’t received a Cup since 1967? We’ll see. The truest factor about blowouts is that they need to be handled as 2-1 wins — piling up objectives on a crushed workforce is meaningless.

What’s attention-grabbing is the playoff snapshot of the Unique Six rivals at an uncommon level of their historical past, with the Leafs driving excessive and the downtrodden Canadiens on the surface wanting in, hoping that the draft lottery will convey Connor Bedard and a return to the promised land of parades alongside the same old route.

Will the Recreation 1 debacle in Toronto set off a drive to that elusive 14th Stanley Cup, or will the spring of 2023 be one other milestone on the lengthy highway of futility — a path so lengthy it’s exhausting to wrap your thoughts round it?

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In Could 1967, Frank and Nancy Sinatra had the No. 1 track on the hit parade with Somethin’ Silly. Lester B. Pearson was prime minister, Jean Drapeau was mayor of Montreal and Expo 67 had simply opened on April 27 on Île Notre-Dame.

Within the minds of most Montreal followers, it was an enormous upset when the Leafs beat the Canadiens for his or her final Cup — however the actual upset got here earlier, when Toronto ousted Chicago within the semifinal, 4 video games to 2.

The Black Hawks had been the perfect workforce in hockey in 1967, 17 factors forward of the Canadiens and 19 factors up on the Leafs. Chicago had a purpose differential of plus-94, the Canadiens had been second with plus-14 and nobody else scored extra objectives than they gave up.

It was the final hurrah for the Unique Six. The yr Bobby Orr, the best participant within the historical past of the sport, made his rookie debut. The yr Bobby Hull, a horrible human being with a terrifying shot, scored 52 objectives.

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The immortal Stan Mikita hit the trifecta in 1967, profitable the Hart and Artwork Ross trophies and the Girl Byng. The Canadiens had been within the midst of their Nineteen Sixties dynasty, however not a single member of their squad made the all-star groups. Orr, Gordie Howe and Glenn Corridor had been named to what was in all probability the perfect second all-star workforce ever.

However the Leafs upset Chicago they usually beat Jean Béliveau’s Canadiens in six video games to win the Stanley Cup. The date was Could 2, 1967. When you instructed celebrating Toronto followers that the Leafs would go 56 years with out profitable one other Cup, they might have referred to as you a dastardly idiot.

But right here we’re. Toronto received its thirteenth Cup that day in 1967 to attract inside one among Montreal — however the Canadiens have received 10 instances since, whereas Toronto stays caught on unfortunate quantity 13.

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If Victor Hedman can’t return, there’s a minimum of an opportunity the Leafs can defeat a dynastic Lightning workforce as they beat the Habs in 1967. However until the Florida Panthers pull off an enormous upset, there’s a much bigger shark awaiting the Leafs within the type of one other Unique Six rival, the Boston Bruins. The record-setting Bruins completed the season with 65 wins and 135 factors, a degree wanting double the Canadiens’ season complete.

The Bruins want Patrice Bergeron, simply because the Bolts want Hedman and Erik Cernak (sidelined by successful to the pinnacle from Toronto’s Michael Bunting that earned Bunting a much-deserved three-game suspension.) However absolutely loaded, both workforce might be to be an excessive amount of for the Leafs over a seven-game sequence.

In the meantime, the teachings are there. In Montreal, the Canadiens have put to relaxation the parable that followers is not going to sit nonetheless for a rebuild. The followers love this dynamic younger workforce and administration has performed a superb job explaining its objectives.

And Toronto? The Leafs have wanted a swift kick within the butt from the followers for 56 years and the followers lastly delivered. Will it shake Auston Matthews out of his entitled torpor lengthy sufficient for 15 extra wins and a parade?

Uncertain — however not inconceivable.

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