Charlie McAvoy said what Maple Leafs fans have been waiting to hear from their own team for a decade
Photo credit: Conor Ryan - Boston Globe
Bruins defender Charlie McAvoy gave reporters a candid look into his emotions after losing to Buffalo, something Leafs fans are begging to get from their own team.
Right now, the last thing you want to be right now is a Boston Bruins player. Not only are they currently down 3-1 to the Buffalo Sabres in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs but just had their star goaltender ream them out on the bench before heading to the locker room as cracks are already starting to form.
But besides Jeremy Swayman, there was also Charlie McAvoy; a long-time Bruin who has seen his fair share of success throughout his nine-year tenure with the club.
McAvoy called out his team after a 6-0 blowout and the Maple Leafs have never had that
Unfortunately for him he had one of his less stellar playoff games, as he had a minus-four and was completely ineffective against the powerful Sabres offence.
And McAvoy wasn't shy about sharing his immense displeasure with his team's effort on the ice:
Man to man in here, if we're not f****** embarrassed with what just happened, then I don't know what to say.
It echoes what David Pastrnak said afterwards, calling the game unacceptable and also using some more than colourful language to describe things.
But there's one thing you need to admire about this amount of emotion, and it's the fact that at least the Bruins sound like they care. While you don't need expletives every interview, knowing that it was a poor effort and being so frustrated with themselves shows that this matters a lot more than their effort showed.
Contrast that to the Maple Leafs, who seem to throw their teammates under the bus, and take no accountability. It's always just 'not enough' or 'too many passengers.' When you're bad, you're bad and admitting it while being transparent is a much better way to earn fan trust than to lead them astray.
The Maple Leafs lost four straight playoff series and their stars never once spoke like McAvoy just did
Once, just once, it would be awesome to hear John Tavares or Auston Matthews drop an f-bomb. Not only because it would make for a great headline, but the fact that they are so reserved and seemingly apathetic to what's going on — it shows some new life.
It's understandable given the microscope of the Toronto media but genuinely at the end of the day: who cares? Your focus isn't the media or making things be proper; the team isn't going to fine you for swearing.
If Toronto had someone take more accountability and say things were 'f-n unacceptable' then it would have at least given fans a lot more hope that even if the team was struggling; they were aware of their faults and were going to get better.
You can bet that McAvoy and Pastrnak along with the rest of the Bruins are all going to be extra motivated when they take the ice next. Will that guarantee a win? Absolutely not.
But at least they gave a damn about the loss, something that the Maple Leafs have neglected to do for a long, long time.
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