It still feels weird getting ready for a game. I think I can speak for a lot of Leafs Nation when I say that it feels like there’s stuff much bigger than the game going on. Tavares’ injury made me lose all interest in game 1, and for the most part, that’s carried into the second game.

But, Tavares is out of the hospital, and has been cleared of all structural damage to his head, neck, and spine. It’s still a concussion and a knee injury for him, and he’s still probably not going to play in the playoffs, but Tavares is for the most part okay, although I can only imagine how scary that must have been for him.

However, the games must go on. The Leafs find themselves down 1-0 in the series, even though it’s not a loss you can fault them on. But, there are lots of things to go off of in this game. They ended up being the better team as far as driving play and generating scoring chances, although they didn’t generate as many chances as they usually do. And at the end of the day, it was only a 2-1 loss. The Leafs were playing a game, likely shocked and traumatized, and they still almost won.

And now they know that their captain is okay. Now they know they can focus on the game. Now they already have something to win this for.

It’s time to win this game, this series, this Stanley Cup, for John Tavares.