![]() They are calling it over-the-top – and premature. Auston’s in.”The reveling drew the mockery of the rest of a nation that loves to hate the Leafs. One of the chain’s billboards cheekily reads: “Boston’s out. ![]() The popular Canadian franchise Boston Pizza unofficially changed its name to Auston Pizza, a nod to Leafs superstar Auston Matthews (and the fact that highly touted rival Boston infamously lost in Round 1). ![]() “I didn’t think we’d ever do it.”One tattoo shop is offering a promotion for the Maple Leaf logo. For the largest city in hockey-obsessed Canada, the two-decade string of playoff futility was at turns darkly comic and tragic but always a subject of deep civic angst.Yesterday’s game was like the first sunny, balmy day after a dark Canadian winter. Instead, it was only the first game of Round 2 of the playoffs – the quarterfinals.So why all the fuss? It was the first time in 19 years that the Maple Leafs made it even this far. ![]() ![]() But the crowd was exultant, their faces smeared blue as they cheered on their Maple Leafs amid the high-rises of downtown Toronto.The unknowing would be forgiven for thinking Tuesday night’s game was to clinch hockey’s famous Stanley Cup. It was unseasonably cold, with a miserable rain that hadn’t let up for days. ![]()
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