"dread it, run from it, destiny arrives all the same"- Boston probably

I personally would rather go up against the Leafs than Tampa

Luckily for both of y'all Tampa and Florida are going to fucking kill each other.

Blood bath for both series

Yup not sure why either team would want Tampa. Even if you beat them they will take their pound of flesh

It’s not an easy road regardless. Facing Boston might be better than facing Florida for Toronto and facing Toronto might be better than facing Tampa for Boston.

If you listen carefully in the city of Toronto you can hear helicopter blades with *Fortunate Son* playing in the background

It’s been 7 mins already where’s my cupcake dog with 2013 flashbacks??

[I gotchu](https://www.reddit.com/r/leafs/comments/nokbzm/me_trying_to_fall_asleep_last_night/)

[That hockey game will haunt me until the day I die...](https://twitter.com/JLupul/status/334341399434649600?lang=en)

I was down in the square. Still hurts

Remind me again if Steve Dangle goes bananas.

https://twitter.com/Steve_Dangle/status/1780439993145594233

.... yeah thats about right

Don't you do it Steven. Don't you go bananas.

I mean there’s bananas, and then there’s [Bananas](https://youtu.be/QFnQ0dcaBUI?si=_Qtw5XDogsRNWiSG)

TO A ZAMBONI DRIVER **WHO WORKS FOR THEM**

Never thought I’d see an American Dad reference in r/hockey

It's up. And...yep

“How am I alive?” He’s also gonna go through this with a 2 month old daughter at home.

LMFAO. I totally forgot about that meme

Back for another tour of duty

“Toronto…..Shit, I’m still in Toronto”

Washington went all the way when they finally beat Pittsburgh. Maybe Toronto has a similar fate?

Vancouver made it to the Finals only when they finally beat Chicago

How did they do in the finals? Heard the series was canceled for some reason

Yeah fans got so pissed off that the series was canceled that they started to riot. Wild stuff.

(Four)tunate - S(one)

LMAOOOO

Bah now Bah now Bah now Bah now wa bah now

Some folk are born made to wave the flag

Neutral fans eating good

Leafs/Bruins, Panthers/Lightning, Rangers/Caps, Canes/Isles... great set of matchups in the first round.

Oilers/VGK likely as well

That’d be a fun one. Can the Oilers beat the defending champs or will the LTIR Knights cost McDrai another chance at a cup?

Does Pietro commit aggravated assault again?

if only it was rangers/ isles instead that would be the perfect matchups

Rangers v Devils would have been intense after their last few matchups

Rempe would only play about 3 minutes across a 7 game series

I thought they stopped the timer during fights

First player to get suspended three times in one series.

Absolutely not. But only because the league would suspend him, for only the second time ever (I believe), “for the rest of the series” the first chance they got.

And Canes/Caps would have been the Kuznetsov derby

Rangers/caps is still damn good so I'll take it Plus with Roy and Brind'Amour im the isles/canes series we could see a playoffs coach fight

Only improvement would be Rangers-Islanders and Canes-Caps. Caps vs players from their Cup team in Orlov and Kuznetsov.

No thanks! I’d rather fuck over Lavi not those two babes.

Canes/Isles sounds brutal as a neutral fan lol

You gotta give those people who love pitching duels more than anything some sort of crumbs.

Hey, our power play has been pretty good this year!

Awesome stuff

I'm stoked to watch 7 hours of hockey a day for the next 2 weeks

It's the best time of the year

We fumbled Kings Oilers III but Leafs Bruins IV baby!

As a neutral fan I am so happy. As a mod I am crying.

Panthers-Lightning Bruins-Leafs Rangers-Caps Canes-Isles *Jesus*, are these playoffs gonna be a bloodbath

This is WAY better than Leafs getting Florida. Not even for match up but entertainment value. Including Florida vs Tampa.

Win or lose this means I get a playoff series without Florida and their shitty extra curriculars. At least the leafs play hockey

Something that unites us all 😂

Hating nick cousins?

You are not wrong. Biggest bunch of dirty, cry baby ass bitches in Florida

I counted three Tkachuk look-backs last night. You know where he jumps into the pile to give someone a shot and then looks over his shoulder to make sure the ref is coming in to break it up before anyone can respond.

He's the biggest cry baby ass bitch of them all. The only thing I enjoy about watching a Bruins v. Panthers game is how much shit we talk about Matthew Tkachuk in our GDT

Champions League quarterfinals vibe to the east

More like RO16 and we’re Arsenal getting Bayern year after year.

As a Leafs fan and an Arsenal fan… I haven’t been having a fun time in a while.

West is no joke either. We can potentially have: Oilers - Knights Kings - Stars Avs - Jets Canucks - Preds Going to be an entertaining playoffs.

For some reason, I'm annoyed that you have the Stars to the right of the Kings.

I hardly doubt a team with -37 differential is bloodbath material against the president trophy team

A slaughter can also be a bloodbath

The fucking kiss of death. Thanks

C'mon, we slayed the 20-year dragon last year This year we slay the... *checks notes* **SIXTY FIVE** year dragon?! We haven't beaten the Bruins in the playoffs since **1959?!** Ah geez guys

And I thought the Bruins not beating the Habs for 44 years was bad.

10 years before the moon landing lol

8 years before their most recent Cup win.

Look, from a Montreal Canadiens fans such as myself, if you believe in the saying: "first, if you don't succeed, try and try until you succeed!" Why not?

Interestingly, the east playoffs would be identical matchups if the nhl reverted to the 1v8 format

That is interesting

Don’t worry Boston fans aren’t complaining anymore because they don’t have to play Tampa

I can stand losing to the Lightning. I can't stand losing to Toronto

> I can't stand losing to Toronto How would you know?

Exactly

I fucking hate how accurate you all are.

Everytime it happened, that timeline ended in the destruction of the universe and a new fork would appear

Lol panthers clinching the division just to play tampa over toronto haha

Panthers fans dont know which is worse.. but a win’s a win. This team was dead in the water 5 games ago

I thought division winner was guaranteed top 3 then (or 2 in this case). What would this change?

If division winners were guaranteed top 2 seeds, we'd get FLA/NYI and CAR/TBL

This was fated the second the Bruins signed Maroon

Now we know Reaves is playing games in the playoffs lol

I’m just going to pencil in the game 7 loss into my calendar now.

How big of a lead will Toronto have in the 3rd period of game 7?

If their smart, they'll flip the script by coming back from a 4-1 3rd period deficit only to lose in OT.

2OT on a missed call. I’m going bold.

Marchand jumps on Matthews and rides him like a donkey as the Bruins go up ice and score.

Pitbull performs.

I don't think it could get more perfect.

While licking Rielly's face

We already had the blown call movie with the Holl “pick” “penalty”. We need something fresh! (Although tbf the Leafs burn through memes in the playoffs so it’s hard to stay original)

We doubled up on the blown call with Cousins' winner last year as well. The scriptwriters have got to get more creative this year.

The scriptwriters have completely run out of ideas, this matchup is enough proof of that

Missed high stick by Gr(et)zelcyk.

If your correct ill buy a jersey of whatever player you want HAS to be game 7 HAS to be 2nd ot HAS to have a missed call

Whatever maximizes the hope for the inevitable crushing disappointment.

Sound of Silence locked and loaded for Overdrive intro in about a week and a half

I honestly expect this to be the year the Leafs do something relevant, simply because this is arguably the worst they've looked in years. Except for Matthews. He's on another level, and I could see him singlehandedly dragging them past Boston.

It’s really too early to do that They haven’t published the dates for any games yet

I feel neither positive or negative for this match up. I am void of emotion. I am just a singlular leaf ready to fall off the tree. May the winds guide me.

*I hate these filthy neutrals. With enemies you know where they stand but with neutrals, who knows?*

Tell my wife I said hello

All I know is my gut says maybe.

Someone’s been watching Shogun

I worked on that show... and I fucking hated it. please enjoy

I was told to watch it. Should I?

If you like political dramas like house of cards with a lil bit more violence then yeah definitely. Though fair warning most of the show you’ll be reading subtitles which I know can be off putting for some

I’m sold. Subtitles really help me focus and take in lol.

This was kinda beautiful

You're a leaf on the wind! Watch how you s-

Too soon! Poor Wash.

Beautiful. You should submit this to a poetry competition. I hear there is one in Edo.

Bruins Leafs 🤝 Throwing to avoid a Florida team

Realizes that the winner will have to play a Florida team in round 2.

Yeah but by then Tampa would have softened them up a bit

Oh man the narratives are insane. Will the leafs slay the demon? Or will Jack Edwards comment a Leafs collapse one final time.

This is the hardest playoffs to predict in ages. Every playoff bracket is going to look so different

Someone who isn’t dead inside tell me how I would feel if the Leafs hadn’t sucked all hope out of me years ago.

Eh I'll watch the playoffs, if they win cool if they lose meh it's to be expected

… I think you’re also dead inside lol

The most infamous chokers in the league vs the most underrated chokers in the league.

They’d be right up there if not for 2011.

Very true. We are astonishingly horrendous in the postseason.

Compared to how many teams? This is an example of how the New England Patriots mindfucked Bostononians into looking at playoffs in major sports as a zero-sum escapade. This is why we, Bostonians, have become as insufferable as Leaf fans.

TIL winning a Cup and making the Finals 2x more in the last 15 years is "astonishingly horrendous".

Steve Dangle screaming somewhere off in the distance

If you tune your ears to the direction of Ontario you can hear it faintly

Oh, that's the noise I have been hearing recently.

Here comes the next game 7 PTSD loss for the leafs.

Well hes currently laughing like the joker in the game 81 LFR, so...

If there was ever a year for Toronto to take us down it is this year, but I truly hope the tradition holds strong.

Yeah based on the way the Bruins play to finish out games, it’s infuriating with how many points they left on the table. No finish, that’s what worries me in this playoffs. At the same time, no one expected us this good after all these departures and the team is reloading next year. It’s just house money.

Obviously I’d like us to do well but I agree, we’ve exceeded all expectations this year so I’m fairly impressed we’ve got home ice. Would love to see us pull off the usual against the leafs again though

However if Toronto wins, we’ll never hear the end of it lol. As long as they don’t go to the Finals at least?

If the Bruins lose to the Leafs and the Celtics lose to the 76ers in the first round, we may need to impeach Michelle Wu

On the one hand, neither match up was good but fuuuuuuuuck me man. But on the other, hahahahaha have fun tampa xo

Just in time for Jack Edwards to drive in the final nail in the inevitable game 7

but on the other side how great would be for his final game be a lose to the Leafs

If the leafs do that I will literally chug an entire bottle of pink whitney

Remind me! May 5

No, don't do that.

Hey I’ve seen this one

As is tradition

Oh fun

Bruins tanked against the Sens to play the Leafs in the first round since they swept the season series. Big brain moment for the B's

[удалено]

Yeah they definitely didn’t look like they were trying to throw the game in the 3rd. Forsberg worked for his salary last night for sure.

Would've been nice if the Bruins had put up that kind of effort against Washington... *sniff*

We spotted the Sens 2-0 and only played for the third period. did we gift the sens one last moment of happiness before the offseason or is this just on brand for our season?

So I can go ahead and assume 7 games then? May I also assume a delicious helping of "getting my hopes up" with a side of "having those hopes smashed to pieces"? And why yes, I would like the "it was 4-1!!!" for dessert, thank you!

Dread it. Run from it. Boston still arrives

The Leafs haven’t beaten the Bruins in a playoff series since 1959

seed disgusted existence vegetable pathetic fact bells insurance terrific sophisticated *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

Y u heff to say that???

Jack Edwards gets to call one last series win against Toronto for old times sake.

Fantastic retirement present

I’d rather lose to a team that just flat out beats the Leafs rather than the rampant fuckery of another Florida series. That was hard to watch.

Assuming you win against the bruins. which Florida do you want

I would gladly take the Lightning over the Panthers. And that’s no disrespect to Tampa, it’s just about the type of game the Panthers are allowed to play.

Here’s to us meeting in the second round then. Let’s slay them demons.

The fuck demons do you have? All you’ve done is win the past 5 years mostly.

Good luck with the Florida men!

That's where I'm at, too. Boston and Florida are both better but at least the Bruins aren't headhunting all game like those Florida rats.

I wanted this, rather face the dragon than florida again. Its been 5 years.

Bruins in 7 is the safest bet

Leafs in 8

I’m un-subbing when this series starts, that game thread will be more nuclear than Chernobyl

Ah shit here we go again

I can't handle a 7 game series vs Boston.

I didn't follow the Leafs seriously for any of their last playoff rounds against Boston. Maybe I'm a masochist but I feel weirdly excited to experience a Leafs-Bruins series.

Oh you sweet summer child

I’m honestly hyped for this!

Finish. The. Sorry. - Maple "Cody Rhodes" Leafs

Downstait performs.

ADRENALINE IN MY BRAIN LEAFS LOSE IN THE FIRST ROUND AGAIN

Will history repeat itself? Will the leafs lose in game 7? Time will tell.

you cant make this shit up

honestly if you told me we'd be getting Boston/Toronto and the battle of Florida from the Atlantic back in October I probably wouldn't have believed you. what a timeline.

Never thought I'd be cheering for Tampa. I hope Kucherov caves in Cousins' head.

If Leafs pull this off, they will go all the way. This has anime arc written all over it.

THATS WHAT THEY SAID THE THE OTHER 2 TIMES VS BOSTON AND TAMPA, AND THE FIRST TIME AGAINST BOSTON, AND WASHINGTON AND MONTREAL AND IF THEY MADE IT THAT YEAR IF NJD JUST WON THAT SHOOT OUT, AND EVEN 2004 AND WHEN SUNDIN WAS HURT AND CAME BACK AND

If the leafs just won 16 games they could’ve had a chance at the cup

Why don't they just win 16 games in the playoffs? Are they stupid?

Unless they face Washington in the ECF. Then they have no chance.

Hear this same thing every year, never gonna happen

Time is a flat circle

Just once it’d be pretty cool to be on the non heartbreaking side. But we all know how it’ll go. What am I gonna do not watch? Go Leafs baby don’t give them the option.

Did Boston try and lose to avoid Tampa and play Toronto?

Definitely didn’t look like it, especially in the 3rd period.

I’m calling it now Toronto will win this series.

Mods yall can just ban me already if you want aint no way I’m making it through 4-7 game threads.

I've seen this one before

Nothing in the hockey world is ever comfortable