Instant Reaction: Maple Leafs honor Joe Bowen with the most Maple Leafs wins you’ll ever see

Facing a Chicago Blackhawks team without superstar Connor Bedard, the Leafs went down 2-0 (could have been 3-0 if not for a disallowed goal) and seemed like they had no life at all. Chicago stopped them in the neutral zone with the same ease they could take candy from a baby, and they generated absolutely nothing in the offensive zone. Auston Matthews had 12 seconds with the puck in the offensive zone at one point early in the third period. Craig Berube was fired up and caught on camera yelling at his bench more than once, and even after Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored midway through the third to cut the deficit to one, the Leafs continued to struggle to generate anything.

And then the Blackhawks took a penalty with four minutes left. And then Auston Matthews scored to tie the game. And then Dakota Joshua scored to take the lead eight seconds later.

What else can you do other than acknowledge that this was objectively the funniest outcome of this game? On a day where Joe Bowen, who has been to hell with this team and seen almost everything good, bad and ugly, the Maple Leafs pulled off a win that had their fans boiling for about 90% of their lives. It’s extremely fitting, isn’t it?

Ultimately, Craig Berube may not be happy with the process that led to this victory, but at least they took two points for Joe.

PRESENTED BY OFF THE ROSTER