Leafs 1 v. Habs 3: The Leafs Select...

So, that's it. Not only did the Leafs fail to knock off the sens in a game that ultimately allowed them to make the playoffs (great work Hurricanes) but they also failed to keep Montreal from winning the Eastern Conference. The latter failure also set the stage for a Habs-Bruins first round matchup which, if the regular season domination was anything to go by, will be a sweep for the Habs. Of course, the senators swept the Leafs in the regular season in 2001 and were the ones getting swept out of the playoffs.

Considering it was a night when the Habs could have won their first conference title since 1991-92 it was a little embarrassing to hear the fans' efforts squarely against the Leafs as opposed to in support of their own team. Chants of "Leafs Sucks" (yes, they use the extra 's') rang around the Bell Centre. It's kind of like when sens fans chant Golf Leafs Golf instead of supporting their own team. It's a little sad when your fans base their support on undermining the opposition rather than trying to lift the home team. Then again, missing the playoffs three years in a row is pretty sad too.

Update: Man, I forgot to mention Bryan McCabe's pathetic display towards the end of the game. First, there is the slap fight with the stick and then when he gets in the fight it seemed like he was trying to run away. It was a total disgrace to himself and his teammates and the poor fans that travelled to Montreal just to see that.

I ended up reliving King of the Hill with my cousin and his neighbours (Red Wings fans) instead of putting myself through the wringer one final time. Apparently Andrew Raycroft played well. So well that Jim Ralph suggested that he might be worth keeping as a back-up goalie. I would have thought that his record in Toskala's absence was enough to torpedo that ludicrous idea.

The good news was that the loss allowed the Leafs to move down to the 24th in the NHL and their chances of winning tonight's lottery have jumped to 4.7%. The worst that the Leafs can pick is 8th and that's only if one of the teams higher than them in the standings wins the lottery. Hilariously, as is wont to happen among opposition fans, I saw a commenter laughing at the Leafs for potentially picking 8th (prior to Saturday's game) in a 7 player draft. If the Leafs were picking 3rd he'd say it was a 2 player draft. Either way, the Leafs will have a good pick. MyNHLDraft has the Leafs looking at Nikita Filatov but I am thinking that Bogosian or Schenn might be more realistic picks.

Anyway, another odyssey ends after only 82 games and fans, like Loser Domi, are lamenting the end of the season as the end of funtime here at Pension Plan Puppets. However, the idea was floated of selecting a foster team for the playoffs. That would move us closer to the draft and free agency so there would be no need to wrap things up (there's no off-season for bloggers!). I love the idea of adopting a team for the duration of the playoffs so vote in the poll below and we'll become bandwagon fans. You'll notice some teams missing and that's because there is no way in hell I'll turn this into a senators, Habs, Wings, Flyers or Flames blog. And when the Leaf fans curse takes out our adopted team we'll re-vote. Ah, the playoffs! sigh

Who will be the Pension Plan Puppets community's foster team?