The Internet Isn't Holding Back After the Maple Leafs' Ugly Loss to the Red Wings
Photo credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
Toronto's 6-3 loss to Detroit didn't just hurt on the ice but led to a ton of frustrated Maple Leafs fans who vented their concerns after the disappointing finish.
As a reporter and analyst, watching Saturday's game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings was meant to take a look at who were good, bad, and everything in between and give an idea for what will happen down to road.
As a fan though, it was an incredibly frustrating 60 minutes of hockey. A lifeless defense, poor offensive performances from their star players, and for about 90% of the game they felt out looked bad.
Sure it's only the second game of the season, but for a team with the expectation of winning a Stanley Cup, it's not a good sign that the team is already acting complacent.
That performance didn't go over well with fans, who took to social media to voice their very valid displeasure.
Fans Let Loose on Social Media After the Loss
First, the focus of their ire was the fact that not only did Toronto lose in spectacular fashion (including giving up two brutal empty net goals) but it was against a much weaker team:
The general consensus is that as much as the team improved over the offseason to add more balance, it was the same lack of effort that has plagued the team previously.
Some were calling for Brad Treliving to actually bring in that final piece of the puzzle, and that without Marner the team has gone south; a direction that was predicted of them this offseason.
But that wasn't all.
A lot of flak was thrown towards captain Auston Matthews' direction due to his fairly cold start so far, and the fact that former castoff Ryan Reaves has put up more goals and a better overall performance.
What This Loss Reveals About the Maple Leafs' Early Season Mindset
So far the best players on the ice have been Morgan Rielly and William Nylander while guys like John Tavares and Matthew Knies have been pretty quiet thus far.
If the team is already acting like they can beat anyone and not keep the foot on the gas for all 82 games is a weird mindset, especially coming from a coach who strives to enact a tough mental game.
Calle Jarnkrok has two goals already and he's a fourth-liner who is 33 and coming back from surgery with motivation. Whatever Space Jam-level secret stuff he has right now, maybe he should share it with his teammates.
Toronto gets a chance at redemption on Monday afternoon against Detroit and do so in the comfy confines of Scotiabank Arena.
But as we've seen before, when the team gets comfortable they tend to get complacent.
So they need to treat this as a bit of a hostile situation, because if they don't then it's going to turn into a real one very soon.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 12|963 ANSWERS The Internet Isn't Holding Back After the Maple Leafs' Ugly Loss to the Red Wings Do you think Toronto needs to panic after their loss to the Detroit Red Wings? | ||
| Yes | 339 | 35.2 % |
| No | 624 | 64.8 % |
| List of polls | ||