Maple Leafs On Verge of Breaking Their Fans' Hearts Once Again

Being a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs for almost 30 years can take a toll on a person.

Ahead of their first round series against the Montreal Canadiens, I wrote about how snake-bitten the Maple Leafs have been in the first round of the playoffs for the better part of two decades. In that article, I recommended betting on the Canadiens to win the series at +250, based on Toronto's history of heartbreak alone.

That nightmare is once again becoming a reality as Toronto has blown a 3-1 series lead against the Canadiens, and will be forced to play in a Game 7 on Monday night.

This comes after losing in overtime with the chance to eliminate the Canadiens both in Game 5 and in Game 6.

The Maple Leafs are now 0-7 in their last seven games that they have had a chance to eliminate their opponent in the playoffs and advance to the next round.

This is heart wrenching stuff for Maple Leafs fans, as the Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967.

Now we enter Game 7, and the Leafs' history in these games instills little to no confidence ahead of Monday night. Dating back to the 2011-12 season, the Maple Leafs have been in Game 7 three times, and lost all three. They also lost the final game of a best-of-5 series in last year’s play-ins, which were played to counteract the shortened COVID-19 season.

Despite being a cursed franchise, WynnBET has the Maple Leafs set as the -225 (bet $225 to win $100) moneyline favorites for Game 7 with the Canadiens set as +175 underdogs.

I will once again be placing an “emotional hedge” bet on the Canadiens at +175 on Monday night, so when (not if) my heart gets broken by my beloved Leafs once again, at least I’ll be a little bit richer for it.