2013 Playoffs, Round 1, Game 7 in Boston.
There's a game I'll always remember, as much as I wish I could forget.
That game was the first time that I experienced something like that. I'm just 19, and though I've been a fan ever since I was young, I was too young to really have any concrete memories of how I felt when the Leafs made the playoffs in the pre-lockout years. And 2013 was the first year they'd made the trip back after a long nine year wait. It was really the first Leaf playoff experience I've had.
I remember I was sitting on the carpet, 3 feet away from the TV with my dad sitting behind me on the couch. When Kadri scored the goal to make it 4-1, with 15 minutes to go in the game, man, I've never up until that moment or since that moment screamed louder than I have for a goal. I remember thinking to myself "This is it. This is really happening. They're gonna beat Boston." Boston, of all teams! They were the team that the Leafs had been humiliated by for years. The embarrassing losses during the regular season, the constant jokes about Kessel and how he was traded for Tyler Seguin. Boston, the favorites in the East. The team that whenever their name came up in the calender, it usually meant a humiliating loss. Leafs were the big underdogs, and they were beating them by three goals in their own building with the season on the line. 15 minutes away. I don't think I've ever been more proud of the Leafs than at that moment when Kadri scored. "Did the Leafs just beat Boston?" I kept thinking in my head. It was hard to believe. I remember checking the score of the one other game that was happening at the same time between the Rangers and the Capitals, who were also in a game 7, and seeing that New York was up 5-0. I was already imagining the 2nd round between Toronto and New York.
And then Nathan Horton scored about half-way through the 3rd period to cut the Leafs lead to two goals. I remember my dad said "Now here it comes. They always do this." And I couldn't help but feel he was right. Still, when some more time on the clock ticked off and it hit the two minute mark and the Leafs were still defending their two goal lead, I felt good. There were just two minutes left and Boston had to score two goals. Not one, but two. I've watched enough hockey to know that while those kind of comebacks have happened, with that little time left the odds were in the Leafs favor. But of course we know what happened next.
Bergeron scoring the tying goal with under a minute left...under a minute left in the whole season, was truly a sickening feeling. They blew it. The game was in their hands and by god they let it slip away through their fingers. It was no longer in their control. I didn't say a word. Just kept staring at the TV in quiet disbelief. 4-4.
And well, when Bergeron scored in over-time, it was really mind-boggling. This was a real loss. They had the win in their sight and they lost it. They lost control, they lost their composure, they lost the game, the series, and the season in a half hour. I couldn't believe it. It happened, I saw it happen, and I knew it was real but I couldn't believe it.
That was it. That's the worst moment. Although it's just a game and it didn't send me into a depression or anything like that haha, in the moment it doesn't matter. In that moment it hurt. The emotions are real.
