What a job Montgomery has done since being fired by the Bruins and hired by the Blues. Armstrong has done a great job with that team. I love their young guys, Neighbours, Holloway and Bolduc and Thomas and Kyrou at the top.
They did not look good last night. They made Vejmelka look like Carey Price one night after the Lightning lit him up and sent him for an early shower. They are missing their best forward and dman though.
I don't take much from any of these games. I just don't think games at this time of year have any predictive value when it comes to the playoffs.
Wouldn't winning the Atlantic only to be upset by Ottawa (the only franchise we have any real bragging rights on) be the most horrible outcome? If so, we should all fully expect that to come to pass.
I tend to agree but teams playing well down the stretch usually carry momentum into the playoffs. You cannot turn on the switch on demand unless you are a juggernaut. The Leafs are hardly that in the playoffs.
Absolutely and it would signal the end of this core. No coming back from a first round loss to a WC Sens team IMO.
The Leafs need to prove to themselves that they can finally prevail at something . This core is 0-fer every time they’ve been challenged, so it means more for them.
Like any team in any sport, i suspect they take each of these games as a single event and don't ascribe any greater value to them than another games. The playoffs are a different animal altogether, especially in hockey. I think this Leafs team will be defensively tight in the playoffs. There will be a lot of 2-1 and 3-2 games.
I agree. Just not sure if they will be on the winning or losing side of said games.
Yup, in basically the most uninspiring fashion possible. The Panthers are missing Ekblad and can barely roll out their third pairing on defense. I still think they end up in third place behind tampa, and I'd bet that works just fine for them.
They better not. When challenged they have failed so often they must treat it differently than the other teams. Until they prove they have the will to win, the desire to win is meaningless.
Biggest differences will be goaltending, defense and a weaker pool of opponents, in no particular order. The East, and maybe the entire league, is a jump ball.
The Atlantic is there for the taking. It will go to the team that wants it the most. We will see just how much they want it in their head to head match ups IMO. We should be in for some good "close to playoff hockey" games.
Wed is must see TV if the Leafs can take care of business this weekend
I'm not too interested in the rest of the season. The division will end up taking care of itself for the Leafs. I'm more interested in seeing how the game changes, especially against Ottawa, when the playoffs start.
I think they will end up second in the division. They will lose the games against Florida and the Leafs.
So you think leafs are going to sweep the season series with Tampa. That would be a good sign, given how well Tampa has been playing at home. I'm not so sure, given leafs play Florida the previous night.
