TORONTO — After almost three hours and 15 minutes of desperate leave-it-all-out-there hockey, Dion Phaneuf topped every player on the ice with 10 body checks.
The Toronto Maple Leafs season now hangs in the balance because of the captain’s decision to go for one more.
Barring some kind of miracle comeback against the Boston Bruins, this play will be debated and discussed in these parts all summer long. It could come to define a shortened season in Toronto that has been about throwing caution to the wind and just going for it.
On Wednesday night, with all of the Air Canada Centre twisting and turning in their seats along with April and Marlene Reimer, Phaneuf took his shot … and missed.
Nathan Horton was sent spiraling to the ice by the force of Phaneuf’s attempted bodycheck 13 minutes into overtime — one that could have been a game-changer in its own right — but Horton managed to get the puck up to his linemates a split-second before that happened.
By now you know what happened next.
“I tried to jump (up) and keep the puck in and obviously he chipped it by me,” Phaneuf said after the 4-3 loss to the veteran Bruins. “It’s a bad mistake and a bad time to make it. I take responsibility for it. It’s unacceptable.”
There is a sign hanging in the bowels of this building that every Leafs player must pass just before he steps on the ice. It reads: “Focus on details. Master the task.”
It’s one of many slogans coach Randy Carlyle has employed in a bid to motivate the team but it’s telling that he’s chosen to strategically place this one so that it will provide the last important reminder.
Too many details have been overlooked or missed entirely for Toronto to be in any position to pull off an upset in this opening-round series. There is much still for them to master.
But while Boston is clearly the superior team — in talent, experience and results — the Leafs have so far shown that desperation can make up a good chunk of the difference in a best-of-seven situation.
Pretty much all of it on any given night.
That realization will sting the most when the Leafs review tape and reflect on how Game 4 unfolded. By any measure, they completely emptied the tank here. There was simply nothing more to give.
It’s worth noting that Phaneuf produced a team-high six blocked shots to go with all of those body checks he dished out over 31:14 punishing minutes.
Yet it ended up being one miscue that defined his performance and kept his teammates from seeing more reward for their effort.
“You can’t afford to make mistakes that lead to odd-man rushes,” said Carlyle. “We turned the puck over deep in the corner and then we pinched and gave them an odd-man rush and they scored a short-side goal to beat us and that’s kind of a dagger.
“It feels like a dagger after the effort that was put forth by our group.”
As you would expect, Phaneuf was crushed by what transpired.
He refused to make any excuses about why the sequence unfolded as it did and declined to say if he addressed it with his teammates afterwards.
“I take responsibility for making a bad play,” said Phaneuf. “I said that and I don’t know what more you guys want me to say. I made a bad play and it cost us the game.”
There is something to be said about the efficient manner in which the Bruins have gone about their business in this series.
Even as the Leafs poured it on during a wildly entertaining overtime period – with a shot off the post by Matt Frattin and even more dangerous chance from Joffrey Lupul – the Boston players never seemed to get frayed by the action.
From the Bruins perspective, the winning goal was clinical.
Playoff scoring leader David Krejci patiently cradled the puck during a 2-on-1 with Milan Lucic following the Phaneuf flub and slipped a shot under James Reimer’s right arm as the backchecking Leafs scrambled to get into position.
“In overtime there are no bad shots,” Krejci said after his hat trick performance. “It wasn’t a perfect shot but it went in.”
This was a night when the Leafs fortunes were best acted out by April and Marlene Reimer — the goalie’s wife and mother — who received plenty of attention on the “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcast.
As Toronto built a 2-0 lead and fell behind 3-2 and quickly tied the game, the pair squirmed in their seats. They even shielded their eyes from time to time. The emotions were raw and they were felt by every Leafs fan that has been pining for a game that mattered as much as this one.
Even as disappointment hung in the home dressing-room afterwards, James Reimer managed a faint smile when told of his family’s reaction to Game 4.
“I’m sure I took a few years off their life,” said Reimer. “Those are the exciting games. As nerve-wracking as it is for them, I’m sure it was pretty memorable.”
How true.
Now trailing 3-1 in the series, the Leafs face the difficult task of going back to Boston needing to produce another win at TD Garden on Friday night to prolong their season.
After this emotional defeat, it’s hard to imagine them finding a way to do it.
However, the Toronto players didn’t seem to be quite as deterred as they might be. Looking up a long steep mountain, they vowed to throw caution to the wind and forge on.
“You don’t like to sit here and smile after a loss but it was a great hockey game,” said Lupul. “It was up and down, both teams had their chances to win, and we were on the short end tonight. I said it before and I’ll say it again: We’re not done.
“We talked about it after the game here and we think we’re going in a positive direction here with our tempo and our pace of play.”