Post-Game Talk: At least we got a point

[Gary Nylund]

No i think, if only give up 6 or 7 goals, the fact that they have only scored 8 is a problem

Didn't you say that we should have a 4-0 record based on goal differential? What am I missing?

 

[Trapper]

2-1-1 record after clearly being the better team in every game this season. Barring injury this team will finish quite high in the standings. The puck luck will balance out eventually. Generally a few of those shots last night would have squeaked through on Shesterkin, it’s a game of inches.

I would certainly hope so.
We’ve played Ottawa twice, Montreal and NYR. 3 teams that probably don’t make the playoffs. Nice warmup for sure. First American team in a year and half.
Let’s see game 40 fighting with TB, Florida, Washington, Boston, Carolina, etc.

 

[BallardEra]

These were 3 pretty average to weak teams that the Leafs have faced so far.

Looks like their first real test will come against the Pens and there's a good chance Crosby will be back for them too.

 

[Mess]

2-1-1 record after clearly being the better team in every game this season. Barring injury this team will finish quite high in the standings. The puck luck will balance out eventually. Generally a few of those shots last night would have squeaked through on Shesterkin, it’s a game of inches.

I don't think we have faced a playoff team yet though, at least not a serious contender. We're still warming up against non playoff teams at present (Mon, Ott, Ott, NYR).

I'm looking forward to see how the Leafs match up against good teams with Cup aspirations like our Leafs.

 

[ACC1224]

Maybe she doesn't sing the US anthem

She does, I've heard it many times.

 

[ACC1224]

2-1-1 record after clearly being the better team in every game this season. Barring injury this team will finish quite high in the standings. The puck luck will balance out eventually. Generally a few of those shots last night would have squeaked through on Shesterkin, it’s a game of inches.

While true, they haven't played any good teams yet.

 

[AvroArrow]

We probably should have won by 3, not even mad at the effort. Matthews needs to bury that shot at the end. I thought everyone played great, soupy was great, just unlucky. Bring that effort every night and you win 9/10 games. On to the next one.

 

[Tarmore]

Anyone else surprised the Dermott-Sandin pair only had 11 mins in an OT game?

Very surprised!

I thought Dermott was having a good game, save for that penalty he took, I though he was starting to look like he did on the Marlies. I thought defensively Sandin had a pretty bad game.

 

[Mess]

I was a little surprised that the greasy Bunting goal yesterday wasn't more scrutinized and questioned.

Bunting clearly kicked Shesterkin pad into the net and turned the goalie and then the puck went in where the pad would have been. I thought NYR goalie or coach would have challenged for goalie interference and then thought could have gone either way. He did kick the goalie and not the puck into the net, but generally if you push the puck and pad into the net its a disallowed goal.

Even the look and smirk on Buntings face thereafter to his teammates as he winked looked like he thought he might have gotten away with one and crease crashing antics.

 

[Leaftors]

We played great. We aren't going to win all 82, and this is how you want to lose. Dominating with bad puck luck and guys who will score 99/100 times on those plays and we got the just 1.

Looking for this same effort against the sharks on Friday.

 

[Nineteen67]

Fun game to watch but wait for the playoffs before we take anything seriously

Early in the season we’ve come to expect the Leafs to be flying around and getting points in the standings. Games 20-50,up to the Olympic break, (hopefully it doesn’t happen) and the 10-15 after that are going to be a real test for this team.

 

[Nineteen67]

I was a little surprised that the greasy Bunting goal yesterday wasn't more scrutinized and questioned.

Bunting clearly kicked Shesterkin pad into the net and turned the goalie and then the puck went in where the pad would have been. I thought NYR goalie or coach would have challenged for goalie interference and then thought could have gone either way. He did kick the goalie and not the puck into the net, but generally if you push the puck and pad into the net its a disallowed goal.

Even the look and smirk on Buntings face thereafter to his teammates looked like he thought he might have gotten away with one and crease crashing antics.

Im not sure a challenge would have overturned it and then they have to kill a penalty. If the Leafs PP remains anemic then teams will take the chances.

 

[Notsince67]

Over the course of the 4 games other players have scored…..where are Marner and Tavares goals. Matthews gets a pass from me last night as it’s reasonable to give him a game or 2 to get his timing.
Marner and Matthews should have instant chemistry and so should Tavares and Willy.
I don’t think it’s a chemistry issue. As far as the first line I truly believe that Marner so far cannot handle pressure situations. As far as the second line I think Tavares is further down the slide in ability then some people think.

Tavares has zero goals. Nylander has 1 even strength goal that Marner had an assist from. Even for you, this is thin.

 

[Tarmore]

That is why you play 82 games in a season. Sometimes you loose some games you should have won and sometimes yous win games you should have lost.

Note: Is it bad that I read the usernames and then decide if I should read the post or just move on. I think my ignore list is going to grow again in a couple of weeks. I don't mind criticism we should all be Leafs fans here and if you can't find ANYTHING good about the team you are a 'fan' of then you are on the wrong board. Stick to the main boards. (if you are wondering if this is directed at you, then it probably is)

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Didn't you say that we should have a 4-0 record based on goal differential? What am I missing?

Perhaps that's how it sounded but what I meant was they have given up 7 goals they should legitimately be 4-0, but they aren't because the offense needs to get it shit together.

Even if you believe that Jack Campbell should have had both those goals, and again you could make that argument especially since the first one directly on him.

If the offense was doing it's job it wouldn't matter

 

[ACC1224]

That is why you play 82 games in a season. Sometimes you loose some games you should have won and sometimes yous win games you should have lost.

Note: Is it bad that I read the usernames and then decide if I should read the post or just move on. I think my ignore list is going to grow again in a couple of weeks. I don't mind criticism we should all be Leafs fans here and if you can't find ANYTHING good about the team you are a 'fan' of then you are on the wrong board. Stick to the main boards. (if you are wondering if this is directed at you, then it probably is)

I think most do that. Ignore list just makes things confusing, IMO.

 

[Fogelhund]

They can’t finish…….what don’t people get about that.

and yet were the third highest shooting % team last year, 5v5. Actually, they are the third highest shooting % team since the start of the 2017/18 season. Seems that they are one of the leagues best shooting teams. It seems most people understand perfectly well what this team is about. Those looking to complain though, they look for small sets of data to air their grievances. It's four games into a season, and our best shooters first game.

They played a very good game. But go ahead, whine away.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Perhaps that's how it sounded but what I meant was they have given up 7 goals they should legitimately be 4-0, but they aren't because the offense needs to get it shit together.

Even if you believe that Jack Campbell should have had both those goals, and again you could make that argument especially since the first one directly on him.

If the offense was doing it's job it wouldn't matter

Got it. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[SprDaVE]

Last year we started the year on fire offensively and then struggled a bit by the end of the year, this year seems like the bipolar opposite so far. Maybe a reverse in fortunes... Maybe... I dunno.

Either way, I don't mind losing those games. It sucks to watch but at least they played pretty well.

Not sure Ritchie is going to last very long in his current role. His impact has been smaller than Joe Thornton... The Leafs should really look at moving Nylander to the LW until Mikheyev is back and promote Kase in a more offensive role.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I think most do that. Ignore list just makes things confusing, IMO.

How does ignore list make things more confusing? Seems to me like it does the opposite by definition.

BTW, why do you care about the anthem singer? Just curious, I'd be thrilled if she never came back myself. Nothing personal, I'm just sick of listening to her and some variety would be awesome. So much talent in the city, why not have a new performer every game as is done in some other places?

 

[Gary Nylund]

Last year we started the year on fire offensively and then struggled a bit by the end of the year, this year seems like the bipolar opposite so far. Maybe a reverse in fortunes... Maybe... I dunno.

Either way, I don't mind losing those games. It sucks to watch but at least they played pretty well.

Not sure Ritchie is going to last very long in his current role. His impact has been smaller than Joe Thornton...

Ouch!

You're right though, so far he sucks big time. Give him 20 games I guess but after that ... I miss Hyman already, sigh.

 

[Trapper]

While true, they haven't played any good teams yet.

Montreal,Ottawa,Buffalo,Detroit,etc. these are the teams you want to go .600 winning percentage against to make the playoffs.

If you figure the big teams will be a 50/50 win/lose rate, you don’t want to squander these points.

 

[SprDaVE]

Ouch!

You're right though, so far he sucks big time. Give him 20 games I guess but after that ... I miss Hyman already, sigh.

At least Bunting is awesome and a very small downgrade on Hyman so far.

I just really wish we didn't sign Ritchie in the off-season and rolled the dice on whatever we had. That cap space would have been neat to accrue.

 

[MattySnipes]

You'd be upset if we played a great game in the 4th game with a full roster?

It wasn't that great a game by Leafs. Sure it was fun playing a non-Canadian team for once. I thought Leafs played pretty good for the most part but not great. Great entails next to no mistakes, lots of goals, etc.

The finishing worries me. Yes, give some credit to Shesterkin for sure, but can't give entire credit. How much is goalie and how much is Leafs making random goalies look like prime Hasek/Roy lol. Not happy with Muzzin-Holl yet. Muzzin imo has looked good in only one game (with Liljegren).

Imo, we tend to make too many excuses for this team. We shouldn't be completely satisfied with an OT point just because our 40 million dollar offense got robbed on occasion. This should have been a 6-1 win by Leafs, but instead they kept shooting at Shesterkin and got him hot (hes 8-0 when facing 35+ shots).

Refs were disappointing as well because they missed several calls that should've gone Leafs way.

Anyway, still some work to be done Gary imo. But that's obvious right, we're only 4 games in.

 

[fahad203]

Leafs have a lot of new faces. It takes a while to gel.

I am happy with that loss. They played exceptionally well. You can't take away the effort and performance by Shesty, he was on his head yesterday
Hasek used to do that years after years. That's what goaltending does to you

We got beat by Panarin, only a former MVP of this league or should have been few times

Nothing wrong with that loss. I do, however, have a problem with our D. Holl/Muzzin were again very suspectful

Rangers have few weapons and luckily Ziba fumbled 2 2 on 1
Few times their players were behidn our D, that also happpend against Ottawa but luckily an offside call saved us