Leafs fan ecstatic over win

Toronto Maple Leafs fan ecstatic over 5-4 victory

Buying playoff tickets to a Toronto Maple Leafs game is never a safe investment.

But at least one fan seems to have gotten his money’s worth from last night’s roller-coaster game.

In Game 4 of their opening playoff series against their divisional rival in the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto was down 4-1 midway through the third period and looked like, well, the playoff team they’d been over much of the past decade.

Up 2-1 in the series over Tampa, Toronto looked like they were well on their way to squandering a huge chance to take a commanding series lead.

But three Leafs goals in the span of fewer than seven minutes — and an Alex Kerfoot overtime winner — reversed the team’s fate, giving them an unforgettable 5-4 win and a commanding 3-1 lead.

Sportsnet's cameras caught the aforementioned fan on an emotional phone call, screaming, crying, and chanting "Go Leafs" while grabbing his jersey and mouthing "It was 4-1!" to whoever was on the other side of the line.

What a reaction. #LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/Dez6rm9ENO

"'Can you believe it? Can you believe it?' he's telling everyone back home," broadcast host Ron MacLean quipped.

"That's Elliotte [Friedman's] friend for sure," former NHL defenceman and fellow commentator Kevin Bieksa joked.

"There’s someone, somewhere, calling him. That’s gotta be the guy," MacLean responded.

While it wasn't in a series-clinching game, it was an eerie mirror of one of the most infamous losses in NHL history, where Toronto squandered a 4-1 lead of their own in the third period of Game 7 in the 2013 playoffs against the Boston Bruins to get bounced out of the playoffs.

And it appeared that the only people having fun in the building by the night's end were Toronto fans, including this happy couple.

The Leafs return home on Thursday night, where they have a chance to close out the series at Scotiabank Arena.

Puck drop for Game 5 is set for 7 pm ET, with Toronto having the possibility of clinching their first postseason series victory since a 2004 win over the Ottawa Senators.

Lead photo by

Sportsnet


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