Bring on Tampa Bay — or Boston.
For the last few weeks, Toronto Maple Leafs fans have been debating which team they’d rather have the Leafs face off against in the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The Bruins currently lead the Lightning by two points for first place in the Atlantic Division, which means that if the playoffs were to start today, the Maple Leafs would meet Tampa in round one.
Taking on the Bruins would mean the Leafs would have to relive their Game 7 meltdown at TD Garden in Boston on May 13, 2013 all over again.
If you’ve forgotten — or tried to wipe it from your memory bank — Toronto blew a 4-1 lead with 11 minutes to play in Game 7 in their first-round playoff series and lost 5-4 in overtime.
This year, Toronto is 3-1 versus Boston and 1-3 (including a shootout loss) against Tampa.
But we all know that come playoff time, regular season games don’t amount to a hill of beans.
Come playoff time, the games are faster, tighter, tougher — and there isn’t much time to dwell on what happened in the previous game.
Boston and Tampa are ultra-talented teams, and picking which one you’d rather play in round one is rather foolhardy.
But I’ll do it anyway: I’d rather see a Toronto-Tampa Bay series because the two teams have never met in the post-season.
And who knows, maybe Leafs fans will see Toronto-Boston in round two.
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