PHILADELPHIA - OK, Maple Leafs, your long-suffering and emotional fan base gets it.
The team has taken steps forward in Mike Babcock’s first season as head coach, there’s a new attitude in the room, and no one involved in the organization doubts which direction the team is headed.
But would you go ahead and finish last already?
Leafs diehards want the club to have the best shot at winning the draft lottery to select franchise-changer Auston Matthews, and that still could happen.
Just not on Thursday night, as the Leafs beat a Philadelphia Flyers team that should have been a lot more desperate in the early going at the Wells Fargo Center.