Canada’s hopes for one of their seven NHL teams ending the country’s surprising, 19-season run without a Stanley Cup champion are taking a hit with the collapse of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Montreal Canadiens, Canada’s most recent champions (in 1993) will enter the play-offs, and the Leafs looked a sure thing not long ago – before they lost eight consecutive games. With six games left, they need to make up two points on Detroit or Columbus, each of whom have eight games still to play.
The latest disaster for the Leafs came Saturday night, when they lost at home to Detroit 4-2.
“This was as close to a do-or-die as you can get,” said Joffrey Lupul, the Leafs winger. “But we’re not going to throw out hope until it’s set in stone. But we pretty much had to have this game.”
Their eight-game skid is historical as well as horribly timed; not since 1985 have the Leafs lost eight consecutive games in the regulation 60 minutes.
Toronto fans probably are not surprised by this; their club, one of the league’s Original Six, have not won a championship since 1967. Meantime, clubs from such non-hockey-mad sites such as Tampa Bay, Carolina, Los Angeles and Anaheim have.
Most of Canada’s seven teams are out of contention; two have a chance to join the Canadiens in the post-season, and one of those is the Leafs.
Toronto missed the play-offs six of the past seven years. Barring an instant turnaround, that number is about to rise to seven of eight.
poberjuerge@thenational.ae
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