Your Leafs-Hatin’ Thursday Night Open Thread

I always try to lead with the football in my posts but tonight things are a bit different. The Senators haven’t been in the postseason in one dog year and things are lining up quite nicely. (must be absolutely horrible to be a Red Wings fan, if anyone would admit to it) Ok, fine, I’ll do an NFL thingy

-Such a Nice Boy: Baker Mayfield took 1st round wr pick Emeka Egbuka and his family out for a lovely brunch recently. That passes for ‘news’ on the WWL? I would note that no one seems to be talking about Tampa’s wr room. Of course there’s Evans’ remarkable consistency and Godwin’s reliability (after he comes back) but what about the TD machine that Jalen McMillan turned into during the last 5 games of the season when there was no choice but to lean on him? (he produced 7 TD’s in that time) And now they’ve got a consensus top 3 ball-catcher to add to the mix?

-I think one of the things that we Canadians have brought to this site is just how HATED the Leafs are up here. I think I’ve mentioned it before but I’d liken it to the Yankees, Lakers or Dodgers being the lead story in every single market every day. That’s all well and good for that minority of all sports fans, for the rest of us it’s a wee bit oppressive. So the possibility of the Leafs collapsing (again) to my fave team that hasn’t reached the playoffs in forever is a glorious notion.

-EVERY Leafs reporter is asking Toronto players if they feel any pressure given the number of collapses the team has experienced.

-The Leafs are 1-13 in potential close-out games during the Austin Matthews Era. Anyone remember the Nuggets Alex English? No? He was a regular season compiler just like Matthews.

-They are 1 for 31 on the power play during those games.

-Sens goalie Ullmark has a scorching .952 save percentage over the last two games.

/I’ve obviously jinxed Ottawa but oh well…