The Toronto Maple Leafs have restarted their season with two straight losses. And an incident from Thursday’s 5-1 defeat to the Florida Panthers has fans mocking them online.
The Maple Leafs sit eight points out of a playoff spot. And have struggled to start the post-Olympic stretch, as they came out of their Florida road trip with back-to-back losses. First, they fell 4-2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning, and then, just a few days later, they were defeated 5-1 by the Panthers on Thursday.
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”It’s a tough start”
During the game against the Panthers, who are also currently outside a playoff spot, Toronto quickly fell behind. They conceded three goals in the first period. As a result, they were never able to mount a comeback.
“It’s a tough start, right? Getting down three and then giving up a short-handed goal is tough. We knew Florida would push hard like that. You have to weather the storm, and we didn’t do a good enough job of that in the first. In the second and third, we played our game, and it was a competitive game,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube told NHL.com after the game.
Morgan Rielly mocked by fans
However, what had fans laughing after the game was a mistake by Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly. As the Panthers entered Toronto’s zone, Rielly tripped and fell, which immediately gave Florida a scoring chance that appeared to result in a goal by Mackie Samoskevich. Although the goal was eventually overturned due to an offside, this didn’t stop fans from poking fun at the Leafs online.
“Ouch. That’s gonna leave a mark,” one fan joked on X.
“Play was so embarrassing it got called back,” another wrote.
“Three Stooges stuff, right here,” a third chimed in.
You can watch the blunder below.
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