Sport

Leafs and Lightning are playing the strangest series

In a playoff series, especially one between two very good teams which the Lightning and Maple Leafs are, you expect some swings. No one expected a short series, which means twists and turns as teams exchange wins. Momentum generally swings on the performance level of your goalie the next night, but hockey things can… Read […]

Sport

Whew, there’s been a lot of bad hockey so far

It’s wonderful as a hockey fan that in this new era of ESPN coverage, playoff games have staggered starts – 7, 7:30, 9:30, and 10 Eastern – so that in this first round, the most exciting round of the playoffs where anything can happen, we can watch as much playoff hockey as possible and not […]

Sport

We are too broken and hopeless to deserve a Maple Leafs-Panthers series

At least for one night, I didn’t manage to motherfuck something. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers put on a hockey game dressed as Calvinball last night, with the Cats getting a 7-6 win in OT. It wasn’t even that simple, if a 7-6 game can ever be simple. Read more…

Sport

Fed-up Flyers fans ready to bag the season

If you’re not a part of Flyers Twitter, well, consider yourself lucky. But you did miss fans of the Orange and Black having a totally normal one on Thursday as a movement to change PFPs to an unhappy fan wearing the bag over his/her head (much like the infamous days of New Orleans fans during […]

Sport

Pandemic hockey giving us something to build on

The cool fact about the NHL’s semifinal round is that while the Islanders and Lightning are meeting for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight year, the other series pits the Canadiens against the Golden Knights, a matchup featuring the largest gap between inaugural seasons in league history, as those… Read […]

Sport

Seems like old times, eh Leafs?

By now you know the key points. The Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 1967, haven’t been to the Final since then either, haven’t beaten the Canadiens in a series since their ’67 title clash, won their first division title since 2000 this season (thanks to being in the all-Canadian… Read more…

Sport

After 28 years, hockey finally corrects its Habs-Leafs mistake

The NHL has been through so many realignments that sometimes you wonder if it shouldn’t just do a random draw before every season (actually, that’s not a terrible idea). It’s when you get to the real aims of past realignments that things get more interesting. Read more…

Sport

Once again, for those in the back: Cancel the Canucks season now, because this proposed schedule is doo-doo

The NHL came to its senses a tiny bit by pushing back the Vancouver Canucks’ return to the ice, but a team that already has a minuscule chance of making the playoffs still will be asked to play a grueling gauntlet of a schedule to close out the season. Read more…

Sport

Jazz and Suns give us a sensational late-night cookie in a season lacking real drama

I’ve used this space to try and quiet any meaning to NBA regular-season games. It’s been especially acute this season, when teams have rarely been at full-strength, and they seem more intent on just being intact for the playoffs, which they know are what counts and are more likely to have at least some fans. […]

Sport

Auston Matthews can’t miss this year

The Maple Leafs were able to clear some, if not all, the clouds of stink out of ScotiaBank Arena after their collapse against the Senators on Monday by beating those same Sens 2-1 last night. You can be sure the Steve Simmons ilk will still be referencing that pissing away of a four-goal lead to […]