It’s over. Finally.
The seven-year journey that saw Brendan Shanahan and Kyle Dubas and Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner combine to create a Leafs team that was somehow both the best of the modern era but also the biggest failure – that story ends tonight. Or maybe Friday. Or maybe a few days after that. But definitely soon.
It ends in one of two ways. Either with one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history, as a team that can’t win when it matters finds a way to do it four straight times and finally, mercifully, permanently slays its own well-earned reputation for always playing down to the moment. Or it ends in defeat, maybe even a humiliating sweep, at which point the process of tearing it all down finally begins.
Two pathways, headed in opposite directions, but only one destination: One way or another, it’s the end of an era. This is finally over.
If you’re a Maple Leafs fan, you’re probably thinking: Praise Wendel. We can’t take any more of this. Just let it end.
And that’s why today, as we count down the hours to Game 4, shouldn’t feel like a funeral. If anything, this is a celebration. Embrace it. We’re getting out, whichever way this goes. This prison is either going to throw open the front doors or it’s going to crumble down around us, but either way, we’ll finally see the sun. It may be just hours away. And it’s a good thing.
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As tragic as the Leafs' loss is (and I mean tragic in the Greek sense, complete with hubris and divine retribution and even a deranged chorus howling in the background until you delete your Twitter), it did give us a video clip of Luongo jumping up and down like a little kid.
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