The Toronto Maple Leafs went to New Jersey last night with one thing on their minds. Break out of the disastrous slump they are in. Having gone into the game without a win in their last ten games, the Buds were looking forward to taking on the sub .500 Devils. Not only did they lose, they created a new team record for futility by breaking the old one set by the 1966-67 version of the team. Yep, the same team that was the last group of Leafs to win the Stanley Cup.

PHOTO CREDIT - NHL.com

Windsor - February 7, 2015 - The Toronto Maple Leafs went to New Jersey last night with one thing on their minds. Break out of the disastrous slump they are in. Having gone into the game without a win in their last ten games, the Buds were looking forward to taking on the sub .500 Devils. Not only did they lose, they created a new team record for futility by breaking the old one set by the 1966-67 version of the team. Yep, the same team that was the last group of Leafs to win the Stanley Cup. And while I am certainly not going to compare the current squad to the George Armstrong led Cup champs, it’s funny (strange, not ha-ha) that both teams endured their losing streak at nearly the exact time in the season.

The 1967 group suffered ten straight losses between January 15th and February 8th, while the 2015 team went 0-9-1 between January 12th and February 3rd. Logic dictates that this now eleven game losing streak has to end sometime. Why not tonight against Edmonton? After all, it’s almost February 8th.

New Jersey’s Tuomo Ruutuu opened the scoring by beating James Reimer in the crease. Reimer had come out to make a save and was scrambling to get back into position when Ruutuu beat him to the punch. The first period ended 1-0 Devils.

The Devils scored two more in the second. Patrick Elias notched scored the 400th goal of his career, and Steve Bernier took advantage of a lucky bounce off his skate and New Jersey took a 3-0 lead into the dressing room after two periods.

The Leafs finally solved Cory Schneider at 11:51 of the third when Phil Kessel hit the crossbar and Tyler Bozak banged in the rebound. With a little under three minutes to play the Leafs attempted to pull James Reimer for an extra attacker. When they lost control of the puck, Jaromir Jagr scored into the empty net as Reimer attempted to get back into position, making it a 4-1 final.

Earlier in the day, the Leafs announced a trade with Tampa Bay. They sent Carter Ashton and David Broll to the Sunshine State in exchange for a conditional seventh round pick. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Ashton, who was drafted by the Lightning back in 2009.

Let’s go back to that losing streak thing. As I said earlier, the Cup team and current squad can’t be compared. But admit it, when you heard it was the 1967 Blue and White team that had the last longest losing streak, you might have thought “Wouldn’t that be something if these guys could do it? What if the current team ………?”

I better stop before I get ahead of myself. I don’t want my publisher to take away my keyboard. Just remember, you read it here.

A couple of days ago I wrote about cheering the boys tonight at the ACC. They need the support. They really do. Make some noise, and you can tell your kids and your grandchildren that you helped them snap out of the longest losing streak in the history of the team.

TC out.