We asked on Thursday if it was “panic time” in Toronto. Since then, the Leafs have dropped two more games, running their losing streak to five straight in regulation and seeing their playoff chances drop to 34.5 percent, according to Sports Club Stats.
So, if it was time to panic then, is it time now for Leafs fans to......crack each other’s heads open and feast on the goo inside? (H/t Kent Brockman.)
Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston paints a bleak picture for a fan base that’s already become painfully familiar with collapses, be they down the stretch or in Game 7 of the first round.
There is no relief in sight with the league-leading St. Louis Blues set to visit Air Canada Centre on Tuesday and a tough back-to-back against Philadelphia and Detroit on Friday and Saturday. This is already quite bad, yes, but it could easily get worse.
Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail’s James Mirtle writes that goalie James Reimer doesn’t deserve to the scapegoat, despite the fact Reimer’s been between the pipes for almost all of the recent slide:
The reality in all this is that this Leafs team has been playing on a knife’s edge all season, allowing a historically high number of shots and leaning on [Jonathan Bernier] to clean up the mess that systemic issues create in front of him.
That Bernier was able to do so for 44 games before going down with a groin injury was the main thing saving this team from contention for a pick in the draft lottery.
That Reimer hasn’t been able to do the same – after a half season of pulling it off a year ago – speaks as much to the variance in goalies’ play in small samples as the difference between the two Leafs backstops.
Ditto for @DownGoesBrown:
Leafs are a deeply flawed team that can't win without Vezina-quality goaltending. Call me crazy, but that’s not the backup goalie’s fault.
— Down Goes Brown (@DownGoesBrown) March 24, 2014
Finally, taking the contrarian route, the Toronto Star’s Damien Cox doesn’t think this current Leafs’ slide changes anything, because Toronto’s best days are in the future, not the present:
The Leafs believed they had improved their roster with the off-season additions of Bernier, centre David Bolland and David Clarkson, and that was partially true. Bernier has been outstanding. But Bolland has missed most of the season and Clarkson has been a disaster as a free agent signing so far.
The core of the team, however, has been good. That would include Bernier now, of course, as well as Kessel, James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Dion Phaneuf, as well as youngsters Morgan Rielly, Jake Gardiner and Nazem Kadri.