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Enjoy this Steve Simmons column one day before it arrives online or in the newspaper |
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No one ever dreamed as a kid of scoring the winning goal in Game 5 of any playoff series.
It was always Game 7.
It was always, just as it was on the driveway, just before dinner, last shot wins. It was always that way, just as it was when Kawhi Leonard launched that blind jump shot from the corner in Game 7 of the Raptors’ NBA playoff series in 2019. Last shot wins.
That was a Canadian sporting moment to treasure.
Game 7 is why they play and why we watch. It’s everything we love about sports. It’s winner take all. It’s unpredictable. It’s why the Super Bowl matters so much every year.
It’s a Game 7 all by itself.
And now it is time for Game 7 for the first-place Toronto Maple Leafs and the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers.
This seemed to be a coin-flip of a series when it began two weeks ago. And then the coin began to twist and turn the way the best Stanley Cup playoff series ebb and flow.
The Leafs led 2-0 with home wins and almost made it 3-0 playing half of a winning game in Sunrise before the Panthers locked down everything in Games 4, 5 and 6 when the Leafs managed just three goals on Sergei Bobrovsky. Three goals in three games. It’s hard to do that and still be alive in any series.
The Leafs were dreadful in Game 5 at home, then clinical and professional in Game 6 in Florida.
And now, it’s a best-of-one. Game 7. Winner take all. For the Leafs and Panthers and almost anybody who grew up in this nation who once played with a tennis ball, a wooden stick and a Canadian Tire net, where the mesh would never tie in properly, and had thoughts of scoring winning goals.
The streets will be quiet. And all the big kids with beating hearts and nostalgia afloat will remember the driveway dreams and the belief that maybe one day it would be them. |
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The bad news for the Maple Leafs: History. This Brendan Shanahan group has played in Game 7’s five times in the past seven seasons. Their record is 0-5 in those games. They lost to Boston three times, to Montreal once, to Tampa Bay once. In the five defeats, the Leafs scored only eight goals. In the past four defeats — including an overtime loss to the Bruins last year — Toronto scored just four goals in four games. That’s with Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and William Nylander playing. The good news: The Leafs are due for a Game 7 victory … The combination of Matthews and Marner on Friday night in Sunrise, offensively and defensively, all over the ice, was the greatest combined statement game of their careers. That they did nothing much before Game 6 in the series shouldn’t be forgotten. But they’re the primary reason there is a Game 7. And maybe, they can find an energy, a momentum, that they’ve never known before as big time playoff performers … Neither Matthews nor Marner have a Game 7 goal in their careers. Combined, they have just five assists in five games played … Will this be Marner’s last game as a Leaf? If Toronto loses, the expectation is that he moves on from them and they move on from him … Not sure where things stand with John Tavares, who wants to remain a Leaf … Carey Price once tried to explain to me how difficult it was to stop Matthews’ shot. To paraphrase Price, he said you never knew where the shot was coming on or when it was coming. Different launch angles. Different deliveries. None of them hockey conventional. All of them quick. That had gone missing in some ways for most of the season but re-appeared Friday night in Florida just when the Leafs needed it … In explaining goal-scoring to me years ago, the late Mike Bossy attributed his success to quickness of delivery. He didn’t aim, he just shot. As quick as he could. “That’s what Matthews is doing,” Bossy said a few years back … When Matthews wasn’t scoring — he has just one goals in 11 playoff career games against Florida — a hockey voice said: “If the Leafs wanted a 200-foot player who didn’t score, they should have signed Philip Danault for $4 million a year.” … So who starts Game 1 of the Olympics next winter for Team USA: Connor Hellebuyck or Jake Oettinger?
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Jim Nill was voted general manager of the year the past two seasons in the NHL. And all he did to follow that up in Dallas was trade for Mikko Rantanen and Mikael Granlund, who combined have scored 13 playoff goals in 12 Stanley Cup games … Panthers captain Sasha Barkov thinks the two most underrated player in the NHL are his defenceman Gustav Forsling and Leafs blue-liner Chris Tanev. “They’re both so important to their teams,” said Barkov … A 30-for-30 years from now: The Stuart Skinner Story. How was any of this possible? … Watching Sidney Crosby at the IIHF world championship in Sweden and Connor McDavid in Edmonton is like watching two different players with a serious intensity that no one else in hockey matches. They suffer when winning and do not accept defeat. Which makes me and others wonder: Why would Crosby want to finish his career on a Pittsburgh team going nowhere? … The Carolina Hurricanes absolutely exposed the Washington Capitals in the second round of the playoffs. Don’t know yet if the Hurricanes are that great or the Capitals were that terrible? … The problem with Elias Lindholm in the NHL: Not enough games against Slovenia … Vancouver Canucks ownership will like the hiring of Adam Foote as head coach because it saved the cheap franchise about $2 million a season, going from Rick Tocchet to Foote, the first year coach … Freddie Andersen has yet to have a Freddie Andersen moment in the playoffs. Bad goal from a bad angle … Wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if Ken Holland brings in his son to work with him in Los Angeles. Brad Holland wants to be a GM one day. Who better to learn from than his Hall of Fame dad? … Whether the Leafs win or lose Sunday night, I don’t see anyone getting fired and I don’t see any reason to fire anyone. The coach is fine. The GM is fine. The president signed off on both of their hirings. This is more on the players now than it’s ever been before. Last year, the coach got fired. The year before that, the GM got fired. There are no more necessary firings here that make sense.
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Pete Rose was a Hall of Fame-worthy ball player. Of that there is no doubt. The doubt comes from a life engaged with regular betting on baseball. He did it as a player. He did it as a manager. Now Rose is dead and his lifetime ban from baseball is over. Which opens his name for consideration at some point from the Veterans Committee, which reviews players of merit who were passed over by the Hall for a variety of reasons. For Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and others, the reason is performance-enhancing drugs. For Rose, it’s gambling. For Shoeless Joe Jackson, it was for being party to the fixing of a World Series. All of them had Hall of Fame talent and numbers. The betting here, to use a Rose analogy, is that none of them will get elected to the Hall. The old baseball guard on the ever-changing Veterans Committee will choose dignity, character and history over flawed and enhanced talents … When the Blue Jays paid all that money for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., they had every right to expect a gigantic performance from the first baseman. Right now, Guerrero ranks 52nd in the American League in home runs, 19th in OPS, 32nd in slugging, fifth in on-base percentage, 17th in runs scored, 43rd in RBIs. Not exactly gigantic numbers. In 2021, Guerrero’s greatest season — partially because of games played in Buffalo and Dunedin — Guerrero finished first in home runs, first in OPS, first in slugging, first in on-base percentage, first in runs scored and fifth in RBIs. Now, those are $500-million numbers. Just not sure those kind of numbers are possible any more … A question no one saw coming: Where would the Jays be this season without George Springer? … Memo to Anthony Santander: It’s almost June. Time to start hitting, isn’t it? … When the season began, no one could touch Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman while his predecessor, Jordan Romano, couldn’t get anyone out in Philadelphia. Well, life has a way of evening out. In Hoffman’s past seven appearances, he’s given up 11 earned runs for a 16.50 ERA. Romano has made seven appearances and given up no earned runs over the same period of time … The most appropriately named prospect in years: Dodgers callup Dalton Rushing.
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I suspect that any day now, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will become the second Canadian to be voted in as MVP of the NBA. And he had a spectacular season. But when you see him on the same court as Nikola Jokic only one of them looks like the best player in the world. And it’s not the Canadian … If Jamal Murray played as well at the Olympics last summer as he’s playing right now, Team Canada would have won a medal … The Eastern Conference final with some Raptors flavour: Pascal Siakam vs OG Anunoby … Tanking in the NBA is frowned upon by just about every team that doesn’t tank. And this year, most of the tankers got theirs. The three lowest win teams — Utah, Washington and Charlotte — tripping over themselves to lose games, were awarded the fourth, fifth and sixth picks in the NBA draft … The poor Raptors, who can’t even tank properly, wound up with ninth pick. Which means, if you have a shot of trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo, you have to take it. Even if that means dealing Scottie Barnes away … Trivia question: What’s a Luostarinen? A hockey player or a mouthwash? … For those who often ask, mostly online: What’s with you and Auston Matthews?, I give you some math courtesy of the Postmedia online library. I have written 570 columns that included Matthews name in his time with the Leafs. Nine years in all. According to the library, which tracks these things, 88% of the columns have been considered either positive or neutral. Just under 11% of the columns were considered negative. I guess that’s what’s known as balanced coverage of a sometimes superstar no matter what he may think of the balance … A statistic that doesn’t get much play: In 20 seasons of Alex Ovechkin in Washington, the Capitals made it past the second round of the playoffs only once … What a nice pickup Brad Marchand has been for the Panthers. Not only has he fit in seamlessly on a line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen but he’s been on the ice for only four goals against in 11 playoff games. By comparison, Selke Trophy candidate Sam Reinhart has been scored on nine times in the playoffs … A hockey cliche I’ve never understood: The fourth win in a playoff series is the hardest to get. Why? … Not good for PWHL business when Toronto and Montreal are eliminated in the first round of the playoffs and Boston and New York don’t make the post-season … There are few things in life as much fun as Matt Dunigan. But sometimes you have to pause and move on. TSN has apparently chosen to move on from Dunigan after his quarter-century run as a football voice on the network. He did his time and did it well and made you smile. Be well, Matty … Born this date: Cool Papa Bell, Ellison Kelly and Jimmy Snuka. And a happy birthday to Reggie Jackson (79), Sugar Ray Leonard (69), Jari Kurri (65), Tessa Virtue (36), Travis Hunter (22), Marty McSorley (62), John Salley (61), Yannick Noah (65), Donyell Marshall (52), Vicky Sunohara (55) and Manny Malhotra (45).
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