The Role of Spoilers

For the Toronto Maple Leafs it's all over but the shouting, which leaves them with one last thing to do this season: spoil someone else’s. Two of their four remaining opponents are still jostling for playoff positions; beating Montreal (tonight) and/or Buffalo (next Wednesday) would put a tiny bit of gloss on a meaningless final week. Cheering against another team, even if it's the Canadiens, is the last refuge of the sports loser, but it’s the best we can do for the time being. There certainly wasn't much to cheer about last night, an 8–5 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers which was nowhere near as close as the final score suggests (the Leafs were down 5–0 after the first period and were trailing 6–0 before mounting an abortive "comeback"). But the game was at least somewhat noteworthy because of Christian Hanson, the former Notre Dame star—and yes, the son of the Slap Shot actor—who played 17:38 in his Maple Leafs debut. Again, it's not much, but it's the kind of thing you look for at the tail end of yet another lost season.