13 Games Remaining
Here we are with 13 games remaining in this season. It’s a dog fight for the final couple of playoff spots in the East. Us Leaf fans have argued, discussed, and contemplated those moves that we individually have wished for our team, but with the trade deadline over there is nothing to contemplate except the remaining 13 games.
Now it is time to agree that this team, although maybe not what you envisioned, is a resilient bunch who have fought through more injuries than every team but 3, have fought through fans booing, stellar and not so stellar goaltending, and yet still they are in the thick of the playoff hunt!
Saturdays win against the streaking Senators was huge for more reasons than points. In my opinion, it was a mend in the relationship between the home fans and the team, and hopefully a start of a good run of games at home. Even going into the 3rd period down 3-1, the fans knew, the Leafs knew, and probably the Senators knew that this game was not over. The ACC was louder then I can remember, and maybe even gave the team that extra little jump in the 3rd.
Some of us wanted JFJ to blow the team up, some of us wanted that last veteran piece of the puzzle, and some of us wanted to do nothing. We got an injured Yanic Perreault. While i’m not a huge fan, he can help down the stretch with important faceoffs and shootout abilities to hopefully catapult us into the playoffs.
It is time for the team and the fans to band together and take on the “us against the world mentality”. This is our team until the offseason, like it or not. Some of our top players are slowly coming back into the lineup from injury (something that has been overlooked all season), and hopefully this team can pull it all together. If they get into the playoffs you never know what could happen, if nothing happens then we move on and hope for the necessary moves in the offseason.
One thing is for sure, this team will not go down without a fight, and I will be ring side watching!