Toronto needed a night like Wednesday, even without the storybook ending

There was a literal dark cloud hanging over Toronto on Wednesday. A heaviness. 

It's been a heavy week in a city still trying to make sense of Monday's horrific van rampage that left 10 people dead. 

Rain poured down all day and really never stopped. It would have been easy for the spirit of an already depleted city to be dampened — that never happened. At least not before an historic frenzy of games began. 

• Bruins end Leafs' season with wild Game 7 win
• Raptors beat Wizards for 3-2 series lead
• TFC heartbreak loss on penalty kicks
• Jays lose to Red Sox

Sporting adventures awaited a city that wanted to celebrate and rally around something. And people showed up to support their teams — the Leafs, Raptors, Blue Jays and Toronto FC all played on Wednesday night. 

There was excitement and celebration over the Raptors winning Game 5  against Washington, taking a 3-2 series lead. Fans danced in the rain, hugging. 

There was disappointment and devastation, too. The Leafs couldn't hold on to a 4-3 third-period lead against the Bruins, surrendering four goals to lose 7-4 and put an end to their season.

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Just like in 2013, Boston scored 4 unanswered goals to advance to the 2nd round and send the Toronto Maple Leafs packing​

The Blue Jays, playing the Boston Red Sox at the Rogers Centre just down the street from the party outside the Air Canada Centre, lost as well, 4-3 on two Mookie Betts' home runs.

And TFC came oh-so-close to making history, losing the CONCACAF Champions League final on penalty kicks.

The Raptors are now on the verge of moving on to the second round; the Leafs, for another off-season, are left thinking about what might have been. 

But before any of the highs and lows, there was a coming together of fans on the streets and sidewalks of Toronto that just two days earlier felt foreign and unsettling to many. 

Before the start of the games hundreds of people, many wearing rain ponchos over their Leafs, Blue Jays, Raptors and Toronto FC jerseys took to the streets. They were loud. They high-fived one another. Downtown city streets and sidewalks were buzzing. 

The mass of fans landed in the nerve centre of Toronto sports watching — Jurassic Park met Maple Leaf Square in an epic mashup of sporting frenzy. 

The Raptors started the party first. Everyone stood in the rain and sang O Canada together. Then fans took turns chanting "Let's go Raptors," immediately followed by "Let's go Leafs."

Then the Leafs game started. Fans swung soaked, white rally towels in the air at the beginning of the game, cheering wildly. They sang O Canada together for a second time. 

It wasn't a perfect viewing party in the sopping conditions. The screens showing the Leafs-Bruins game malfunctioned for a portion of the first period, and fans started pulling out their cell phones in the rain, streaming the game for groups of people around them to watch. Neighbours helping neighbours in the square. 

Then the screens flickered back on. 

In the aftermath of tragedy there have been repeated examples over the years of cities and people coming together for sporting events and letting it be a place for reflection, community and solidarity. 

• Sports can't heal Toronto — but they can help

Take, for instance, five years ago, when just days after the Boston Marathon bombing the Bruins were the first to play. The team played an emotional video before their game honouring the victims, and then the fans sang their hearts out during the anthem.

Or more recently, after the October gun attack in Las Vegas, the Golden Knights played their first-ever home game and a raucous crowd honoured first-responders, the victims and all those affected. 

Then Wednesday night in Toronto it happened — all those teams playing at once. 

Sure, it didn't go the way so many in the city wanted it to go. 

But what it did do was allow thousands of people from all across Toronto to come together.

They took to the streets, many saying they're taking back their streets — to cheer on Toronto's teams.