“It’s the hope that kills you.”

This is what my father has told me at the start of every season and playoffs when I expressed optimism in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ performance. Every single year, he has been proven correct.

Anyone who has read my writing will know I am extremely cynical and jaded about this hockey team. While I am certainly still “in,” as Steve Dangle would say, and will likely be “in” for the rest of my life, the hope has certainly faded as the years have gone on.

Successive playoff heartbreaks, when expectations are so high, tend to lower those same expectations.

This year feels different. It feels like hope is back.

A new hope

I’m writing this before Game 3. The Leafs are currently up 2–0 in the series against the Florida Panthers, a position that nobody expected. To me, it’s less the series lead that is so surprising and rather how they got here.

Game 1 was a painting. The Leafs came out swinging, with William Nylander scoring within the first minute. From there, they played the first period almost perfectly. They played hard and disciplined, but what impressed me the most was their ability to almost control momentum. Whenever it felt like the ice was tilting towards Florida, the Leafs responded. Seth Jones scored late in the first, and I know many Leafs fans felt the first twinge of doubt that the goal would lead to a snowball. Morgan Reilly scored less than 20 seconds later and flipped the momentum completely.

Midway through the second, Anthony Stolarz left the game after taking a puck to the mask and a complete cheap shot of an elbow to the head courtesy of Sam Bennett. At the time, the score was 4–1.

To start the third period, the Panthers scored two goals within the first five minutes. And here is where this Leafs team feels different. They kept battling, they didn’t panic, they stuck to their game and sure enough, Matthew Knies scored to restore the two-goal lead on an absolutely gorgeous breakaway. Even a late goal by chief villain Sam Bennett wasn’t enough, and the Leafs won a statement game, proving that they can certainly beat the defending champs.

Game 2 is where the hope came back. The Leafs didn’t get off to the same start as the first game and frankly looked a bit timid. An early goal had the crowd a bit nervous, and the more cynical Leafs fans (me) were thinking that the first game was just a flash in the pan. Then Max Pacioretty did the thing that has me so impressed by this team with a perfectly timed goal, both in skill and in game management. The Leafs went into the second period with all the momentum.

The moment I knew things were different with this team was the response to the Marchand goal. In years past, a goal 15 seconds into the period, by your arch-nemesis, would have led to a collapse of completely expected proportions. That did not happen here. It seemed like nothing had changed in the Leafs game. I cannot remember a single Leafs team that would have won that game.

The MoneyPuck “Deserve To Win O’Meter” had the Leafs as a 26.9% chance to win.

The vibe shift

When was the last time the Leafs were on that side of the scale and actually won? And they didn’t get lucky or have a goalie steal the game or a flukey bounce. They battled and would not allow the Panthers to win that game. This team feels different, man.

Even the crowd seemed to start to buy into the hope. Normally, after the Marchand goal, all the air would be sucked out of the building. I’ve certainly been present at many games where that was the case. But instead, the crowd seemed to get louder, willing their team to victory. It’s no longer the Scotiabank Yacht Club.

As I mentioned before, I’m writing this piece before Game 3. But, in contrast to previous series, I don’t feel like Game 3 will change my feelings. The Leafs could lose (in fact, I expect they will), they could lay an egg, and I would still say that hope is in the air. Game 6 against the Senators proved that, even if they have a stumble, they can get right back up again. Hell, they’ve proved that same fact three or four times already in this series.

I don’t know how these playoffs will go. Even after we beat the Panthers, we’ll still only be halfway to lifting the Stanley Cup. Last year, Edmonton won 15/16 necessary games, and it didn’t matter because the 16th is the only important one. But this Leafs team is playing in a way that I have literally never seen before in my almost two decades of fandom. It’s exciting and exhilarating. Maybe the hope will kill me once again, or maybe it will finally be warranted.