A week ago, Toronto hockey fans were talking about a run to the Stanley Cup final. Today, they’ll be doing their annual post-post-season run through the stages of grief.

What can you say about Monday’s Game 7 loss to the Montreal Canadiens? It was like a three-hour montage summing up 50 years of despair.

Defensive gaffes? Check. Brain cramp in goal? Check. Bad penalties? Check. Inability to create offence? Check. The Leafs put on an anti-instructional clinic. The score, 3-1, somehow still flattered to deceive.

Now we move to what passes for the second round of the NHL playoffs in this city – a week of tears and recriminations.

The first stage of that grief is denial. We can skip that stage. We’ve reached the point with the Leafs where this sort of implosion is expected. Anticipated, even. Watching the Leafs pooch it in the playoffs is like a good scourging – it thins the blood.

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