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Former Leaf lays into Leafs fans for giving Matt Murray the old ''Bronx cheers'' last night

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Mike Armenti
January 6, 2023 (4:19 PM)

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After several weeks of being one of the league's top-3 teams on a nightly basis, the Leafs are not playing their best hockey right now and a huge part of the problem has been the confidence levels of Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov, who have begun to come back down to earth after torrid starts.

Both Murray and Samsonov have had a rough 5-game stretch, with Murray producing a save percentage below .900 in 3 of his last 5 games and Samsonov producing a save percentage below .900 in 4 of his last 5 games.

Last night against Seattle, Murray had arguably his worst game of the season, allowing 5 goals on just 26 shots, putting up a brutal .808 SV%. It got so bad at points that when Murray finally made a save, the fans in the house began giving him the "Bronx cheer" every time he made a save.

On Friday, former Leaf Jay Rosehill laid into Leafs fans for their treatment of their goaltender.

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"Why does the market shoot themselves in the foot? Why do they make it hard on themselves? ... A guy that's won you tons of games and has come in and been exactly what you want him to be this year - you're pretty much booing him on the ice because he doesn't have his best stuff. Why make it harder?

"It just doesn't make it any easier. I just hate it when they care so much their team in Toronto, yet they make it so goddamn hard for them to win."

-Rosehill on the crowd's mistreatment of Matt Murray last night

Leafs Morning Take co-host Nick Alberga also chimed in to echo many of Rosehill's sentiments and also pointed to the number of positives in Toronto this year as a reason to stand behind your team, rather than crucifying them for a meaningless January loss to one of the league's highest scoring teams.

"It's January 5th against the Seattle Kraken. This team got a billion games in a row with a point, Mitch Marner is having an unbelievable year - there's so many positives and, as you mentioned in reference, you're essentially booing your goalie by Bronx cheering him. I just don't think it's the right approach... you're not going to have it every night. Sometimes, you tip your cap - I thought the Kraken were GREAT in the 2nd and 3rd period."

-Alberga on the Leafs' strong season and the crowd's overreaction to a random regular season game in January

I know that when fans pay the price of admission, they're going to do what they're going to do because they're paying good money to be there, but sometimes it's best to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.

There is a larger sample size of the Leafs succeeding this year than there is of them coming up short. I think these guys have earned the benefit of the doubt after a sensational November and December.

Maybe let's just wait and see where they are in March and April before we start Bronx booing guys right, left and center.

https://www.mapleleafsdaily.com/Former-Jets-captain-suffers-unfathomable-injury-and-plays-the-rest-of-the-game-195864

Previously on MapleLeafsDaily

Former Jets captain suffers unfathomable injury and plays the rest of the game

John Tortorella has some harsh words about the All-Star game, All-Star weekend

Matt Murray speaks with the media post-game, says loss against Kraken was on him

POLL
6 JANVIER \| 165 ANSWERS Former Leaf lays into Leafs fans for giving Matt Murray the old ''Bronx cheers'' last night Do you agree with what Rosehill and Alberga are saying about the crowd's treatment of Matt Murray last night?
Yes, he deserves better	128	77.6 %
No, he deserved it	37	22.4 %
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