I have so many vivid memories of that night. No great stories but a bunch of anecdotes. After the Leafs' 4th goal, I texted one of my friends who was sitting in a different part of the garden "if anyone can blow a 4-1 lead, it's Toronto". After both of Bergeron's goals, but especially the tying one, it was just screaming and beer splashing and strangers hugging each other. There was a lot of stranger hugging that night. Even at Sully's after the game, people were buying strangers beers and shots and giving high fives and hugs. Everyone knew they'd seen something special. Announcers always say cliche shit like, "the atmosphere is electric here tonight", but that was one of two times I've experienced where it really was. The other being Rene's first anthem after the marathon bombing.
After the tying goal, no one sat down the rest of the night, right through the winning goal. Which must have been 30 minutes later, with intermission and whatnot. Intermission was surreal (echoing Lupe Whalewatch), that's the thing I remember the most because it was so odd. There was NO ONE sitting down. It was like at a concert when the band walks away before the encore and everyone is trying to cheer as loud as they can like it's gonna make a difference whether the band comes back. Except this was 18 minutes of yelling at the Zambonis and you knew they couldn't come back out before the ice was clean.
There were a handful of Toronto fans in our section, they were all cool even when it was 4-1. After the game, bumped into an older guy in a Leafs jersey with tears in his eyes. Gave him a hug, said something awkward about the Red Sox and the Philly series. I think that night is why I can't hate Toronto fans, to this day. I respect them for not being dicks when it was 4-1, and I didn't have it in me to gloat after the game. Their emotional distress was palpable.
Anyway, let's not repeat that. Bruins in 5 plz.