There were some bizarre coincidences from the Leafs' win in New Jersey on the eve of Borje Salming's passing, centered around the 21
Whether you believe in fate or just tend to chalk things that can't really be explained up to random coincidence, I'm sure there is some part of you that will find this eerie and a little too strange to be purely coincidental.
Today, we say goodbye to one of the most beloved Leafs of all time, the legendary Borje Salming, who has spent the better part of this year battling ALS. Salming just enjoyed his final trip to Toronto, where he was able to share a special weekend with former teammates Tiger Williams, Darryl Sittler and Lanny McDonald.
Following Hall of Fame weekend, Salming's family told Sittler that they hadn't seen him as happy as he was that weekend in ages. It was an emotional night and while the purpose of the weekend was to celebrate the upcoming induction of the 2022 Hall of Fame class, the focus was on #21.
Following so far? Good. Here come the bizarre coincidences.
Last night, the Leafs took to the ice in New Jersey in what was their 21st game of the season. The Leafs scored 2 first period goals (21). John Tavares opened the scoring with his 12th goal of the season (21 inverted) and the final score of the game was 2-1.
Pretty crazy, right? There's more. Auston Matthews played 19:11 in the contest (19+1+1=21). Calle Jarnkrok played 11:10 in the game. (10+11=21). Rasmus Sandin played 22:23 in the game (21 would be the previous number in that sequence) and while he didn't record a shot on goal, he had 2 shot blocks and 1 hit in the contest (2,1.. 21).
And then there were the crazy circumstances that led to the final score being 2-1 Leafs. I can't remember a time where I've ever seen a game where one team had 3 goals disallowed.
Some of these things may be a reach, sure, but there are a lot of strange, circumstantial events that surround that game that kind of leave you with a bit of a chill when you really stop and think about it. Is it that far-fetched that the outcome of last night's game was written in the stars for Borje Salming on the eve before his passing?
Shout out to BrianBeLeafs on Twitter for providing the inspiration to look into this a little deeper.
| POLL | ||
24 NOVEMBRE | 120 ANSWERS There were some bizarre coincidences from the Leafs' win in New Jersey on the eve of Borje Salming's passing, centered around the 21 Did these odd coincidences give you a bit of a chill? | ||
| Yes | 54 | 45 % |
| Not really | 34 | 28.3 % |
| Come on, man... that's a reach... | 32 | 26.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
