Sometimes things can change very quickly, and that is certainly the case here, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins.
Should we recall the reactions of the NHL planet a few minutes after the fourth game of this series, last Saturday? On one hand, it looked like a taxi was waiting for Sheldon Keefe outside the arena, the engine running, the trunk already open. On the other hand, there are people, and you probably know some, who were ready to give the Cup to the Boston Bruins.
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Now it all seems so far away.
The Leafs coach has not been fired, and the Bruins have not won anything since that Saturday, having just lost the last two games, including Thursday night, the sixth of the series, by the mark of 2-1.
So here we are, back to the proverbial square one, ladies and gentlemen. There will be a seventh game Saturday night in Boston, and wasn’t it Simone de Beauvoir who once said that anything can happen in a seventh game? Probably.
PHOTO NATHAN DENETTE, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Jeremy Swayman lowers his head after allowing a goal to William Nylander in the second period.
The Bruins may wonder how they got here, and to have the beginnings of an answer, they could start by looking a little in the mirror of the truth, which never lies.
Because the Bruins started the fifth game late, and they did exactly the same thing this time, having only one shot on the clock when the two clubs reached the halfway point of the second period.
Which leads us to believe that the Bruins offense is suddenly missing. These guys have been looking for one last win for two games, but they’ve only scored two goals in games 5 and 6, and then again, their only goal Thursday night came when the carrots were cooked and there were only 0.1 seconds left on the board at the very end.
The solid Toronto goalkeeper
This is undoubtedly where we should begin to highlight the solid work of Joseph Woll in front of the Toronto net, he who now finds himself with a 3-1 career record as a playoff starter, to go with an average of 1.40 and an efficiency rate of .950.
PHOTO FRANK GUNN, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Joseph Woll blocks a shot in the third period.
Every once in a while, a guardian appears out of nowhere and turns into a magician, and that may be what’s happening here. In any case, Woll seems like a guy who lives in the Bruins’ head without ever paying the rent.
William Nylander reminds us how much the Leafs missed him during the first three games of this series.
It was he who was the author of the two goals for his club on this surprising Thursday evening, and the last of the two goals, in particular, was of rare beauty, scored alone in front of a stunned Jeremy Swayman, managed at the The help of agile hands which are reminiscent of the hands of a cellist coming from Europe to play a tune carrying hope and love. Or something like that.
The worst is that the Leafs are there, surprising everyone a little, coming back to life when we no longer believed in it, without being able to count on the help of their top scorer, Auston Matthews, who remains on the sidelines for health reasons. Which makes this situation even more surprising.
It’s not over, then, and all these beautiful people will see each other again Saturday evening in Boston in a seventh game that no one expected.
The Leafs have two days to continue hoping. The Bruins have two days to get together.