Maple Leafs' 4-4-0 Start Leads to Fan Disrespecting the Team on Home Ice
Fans have already had enough after back-to-back embarrassing losses for the Maple Leafs, resulting in one patron tossing his Leafs jersey on the ice last night.
You usually don't see something like this until at least the end of November, perhaps even into December, but it seems as though the growing pains that are linked to being a fan of the Maple Leafs forced one supporter to throw their jersey onto the ice to express their disappointment and frustration following a 5-1 loss at home.
After coming out flat on Tuesday night in Columbus, dropping a 6-2 decision to the Blue Jackets, the Maple Leafs returned to Scotiabank Arena to host the Blues on Thursday - a team that Craig Berube had coached to a Stanley Cup championship not long ago. Unfortunately, the team laid an egg for the second consecutive game.
It was a disappointing game from start to finish and it didn't help that the Leafs' top players who were a minus-18 on Tuesday combined to be minus-13 on Thursday, including the top-line of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and Matthew Knies.
On the bright side, Joseph Woll returned from the IR to make his season debut and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored his first goal as a Leaf, but that was about it.
Berube's club fired 41 shots towards Jordan Binnington, but it was too little too late for the Maple Leafs who have now dropped 3 of their last 4 games and sport a 4-4-0 record to start the season. The fiery bench boss was even seen chewing out his star players after another despicable effort.
It's certainly not easy cheering for the Maple Leafs when you factor in all that's happened in the last 2 and a half decades, so maybe it's not all too surprising to see a fan throw their jersey onto the ice in absolute frustration this early. The expectations for this team are always sky-high and despite the talent, they can never seem to play a consistent brand of hockey for a long period of time.
The jersey that was thrown onto the ice took place with the Blues firmly ahead 5-1 late in the third period in front of a near-empty Scotiabank Arena. Steven Lorentz was pictured picking up the article of clothing during a TV timeout.
The Leafs look to get back on track Saturday night when they travel to the TD Garden and face-off against the struggling Boston Bruins in a grudge match against their first round opponent from the playoffs.
