TORONTO

If Phil Kessel was fishing for compliments via Twitter, this wasn’t the way to do it.

In what should have been just a harmless comment from Phil The Thrill on how he is spending his time these days, a Kessel tweet instead ignited a venomous backlash from frustratd Maple Leafs fans.

The tweet, which has since been deleted: "@PKessel81 Night fishing with friends doesn’t get much better".

Kessel was just commenting on what he’s been up to recently. It wasn’t any kind of revelation suggesting he would rather be angling than competing in the playoffs.

But that’s the way it was perceived by some Leaf backers, causing a flood of bitter responses to Kessel on Twitter.

Really people? That’s what you took out of his tweet? Please. Time to get real lives instead of dissecting every word.

Talk about blowing things out of proportion.

Some of the twitter outrage aimed at Kessel included messages like:

@AHume92: Playing hockey would be better

@Shaf_Daddy: Because the NHL playoffs are worthless, right?

@jaycaddy16: you know what’s better than night fishing? Playoff hockey. Try it some time.

@hopper_dale: Night fishing with friends doesn’t get much better” This just in...fishing is better than playing for a cup!!

Apples and oranges here, people. Cut Kessel some slack.

In what was the disaster that was the Leafs 2013-14 season, Kessel hardly should shoulder the blame for the team’s shortcomings.

Despite fizzling out down the stretch, he finished the season leading the Leafs in scoring. More importantly, he was one of the few players who stood up and said he let the team down, a claim some of his teammates who were more worthy of that statement refused to make.

In the end, 23 minutes after his fishing tweet was posted, Kessel fittingly reacted to all the ensuing criticism on Twitter, in a second post that was later deleted: "@PKessel81 Relax people playoffs would be better some of u need to chill out it’s crazy".

Yes, it is “crazy,” Phil.

And yes, a lot of these fans do need to “chill out.”

Or at least get lives of their own instead of nitpicking yours.