The Maple Leafs made history on Thursday for all the wrong reasons, as their latest loss against the Wild marked a franchise milestone they wished they'd never hit.
Coming into Thursday's game, it was a critical time for the Maple Leafs. Losers of four straight at home, they needed a win badly and had their hands full against the Minnesota Wild.
Things looked alright as Zack MacEwen decided to pull out his best offensive performance of the year, helping the Maple Leafs pull ahead 2-1. But as quick as that came - so did the collapse.
Maple Leafs make history...for all the wrong reasons
Bad penalties, even worse defense, and inept coaching led them to a 5-2 loss on the heels of a Matt Boldy hat trick, pushing their home stretch to 0-5-0 and making some history in the process:
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According to Sportsnet, the Maple Leafs will have their worst homestand (of 6+ games) in franchise history even if they were to salvage a point against Edmonton on Saturday - which is a telling sign of just how bad things have been.
Also per The Hockey News' David Alter, this is the first time in over 35 years that the Maple Leafs have lost five straight regulation games at home:
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To put that into perspective, the Maple Leafs finished that season with a 23-46-11 record, and only had Vincent Damphousse leading the way - nearly doubling the Leafs' second-ranked points leader.
Last year was troubling but 2026-27 could break the Maple Leafs for good
The team that finished last in the Atlantic last year didn't even have that bad of a record at home, and there's some serious questions about the direction of this team if things continue down this path.
We are already getting talks about William Nylander being traded, Auston Matthews might not feel as confident as he did a month ago, and the roster has no real way to improve as they continue to get older, slower, and more injury prone.
If this year becomes a complete free fall and the team finishes as bad as they did last year or even worse - they may have no choice but to blow it up. If that's the case, this is the straw that broke the camel's back.
John Chayka has no real way to make changes, the head coach literally just walked out on the team, the fans are frustrated, and the players are getting tired of the same old nonsense.
This may be the end of the Maple Leafs as we know it. At least there's Gavin McKenna and Easton Cowan to look forward to...for now.
Do you think the Maple Leafs are actually as terrible as their record and standings show?
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