It was unseasonably cold, with a miserable rain that hadn’t let up for days. 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. 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. 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. “Relief,” says fan Scott Desmoulin. “I didn’t think we’d ever do it.”

One tattoo shop is offering a promotion for the Maple Leaf logo. 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). One of the chain’s billboards cheekily reads: “Boston’s out. Auston’s in.”

The reveling drew the mockery of the rest of a nation that loves to hate the Leafs. They are calling it over-the-top – and premature. After all, the Leafs lost Tuesday night, with Game 2 of their best-of-seven series with the Florida Panthers Thursday.

Yet Toronto fans remain undeterred, perhaps offering a small life lesson in their determination. “They can say what they want to say,” Mr. Desmoulin says. “We know where we are. It’s been a long time, for sure. So I want to enjoy it.”