Game 17 Afterwords: Beautiful, Unexpected Five Hundred

Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty ImagesNow I’m here, blinking in the starlight

Now I’m here, suddenly I see

Standing here, it’s all so clear

I’m where I’m meant to be

***

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 8-5-3, and everyone is grumbling up in Ontario. The Leafs—These Leafs!—have lost as many games as they’ve won, and that’s just unacceptable. It feels like something’s gotta give, either with a better record (my bet) down the road or a different face wearing a suit.

The Stars, meanwhile, have similar expectations for themselves. They made the sorts of moves Cup Contenders tend to make, and even national media members were picking them to give it the ol’ college try before the season started. In a vacuum,…