Post-Game Talk: Bloody good game

[Confucius]

30-10-3 6 points back of Florida with 4 games in hand, 3 points back of Tampa with 3 games in hand, soon to be 4 they can win the Atlantic.

Mathematically possible to be in 1st place before Florida plays another game. Go Leafs Go.

 

[therealkoho]

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Never tire of this

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Nor that

 

[therealkoho]

Not going to give marner props until he does it in the playoffs
We should trade him now while his stock is rising
Just think what we could do with that cap hit
gone.

just doesn’t show up when it counts

Geepers, sometimes I look back and really miss LeaFlanders, but than soon realize I really don't.

 

[LeafGrief]

I only got to watch the end of the third and OT, but it was pretty good. Marner has been on another level for a while now and I hope he stays there. He needs this more than anyone tbh.

 

[therealkoho]

Holl.. Not a top 4.

Wishing and hoping and hoping and wishing

Just accept the things you cannot change, like Justin Holl playing 20+ minutes per night in the best league in hockey, which in reality and also factually make him a top 4 defenceman in said league. Yes there are better defencemen in that league no doubts whatsoever, but the fact that remains after all is said and done, is that Justin Holl in the eyes of his coach, in the eyes of the management and yes probably in the eyes of his teammates deserves those minutes he plays.

 

[therealkoho]

Oh and strange bounces off of a stanchion are no more the defenceman fault than it is a clever and highly skilled play by a player trying to fool an opponent, or is it?

 

[Mess]

That was a solid win in a playoff style feel game.

This was a good measuring stick against a top team from the East that might even be a playoff series this year.

 

[ACC1224]

That was the Freddy we all knew and were happy he was shown the door. Carolina is a nice team, they’ll go no where with him.

 

[Pi]

Yeah, they're whining a bunch. They need to realize when their team is as reckless with their sticks as they are, they are going to take quite a few penalties.

Also, always love beating that team. Their twitter account is absolute cringe. Guessing there were no witty tweets from them after the game.

These Canes fans do know that the Leafs rank pretty dead last or next to it in powerplay opportunities and powerplay time right? The conspiracy and refs takes are just funny considering we get less time and opportunities than teams that are purposely trying to lose like Arizona and freaking Montreal.

 

[Twine Tickler]

Not happy about most of that game. They were killing themselves with turnovers against their speed.

But the top line was the best line for either team all game, and that was a huge surge after going down late against maybe the best defensive team in hockey to pull out a huge win.

Even bigger that the boys did it for Matty at the end.

Not a great win but a f***ing gutsy one.

I disagree. That is a very good Carolina team that played a very strong game. We got them at their best IMO, hardly like they had an off night.

We stood in there trading blows for 3+ periods. The canes were probably the better team overall at 5v5, but it was not by a wide margin.

It's a gutsy win by the boys, battling adversity after going down 1-0 in the 1st and after losing the lead in the 3rd. That is not an easy team to battle back from.

Sure they had some moments of sloppiness, but in reality that was one of their least sloppy efforts they have had since the restart of the season.

They should be very proud of that effort IMO.

Shout out to Simmer on that fight with Smith. Loved that response. It is a moment like that in the game where you could see how fighting still serves a major purpose in hockey. If he doesn't respond the way he did, who knows what type of shit Carolina would have tried thereafter. The middle of the ice seemed to open up just a touch after that. They were clogging up the middle of the ice for the majority of that first period and had their D stepping up constantly, just like Smith did w/ the hit to Kase. We couldn't make a single pass in neutral ice before that fight. Sure they still played tight after that, but there definitely was a bit more space. Or at least that's how it felt to me.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

It really did feel like a playoff game. Two good teams going back and forth and Freddy coming out on the losing side of the goaltending battle.

 

[zeke]

I disagree. That is a very good Carolina team that played a very strong game. We got them at their best IMO, hardly like they had an off night.

We stood in there trading blows for 3+ periods. The canes were probably the better team overall at 5v5, but it was not by a wide margin.

It's a gutsy win by the boys, battling adversity after going down 1-0 in the 1st and after losing the lead in the 3rd. That is not an easy team to battle back from.

Sure they had some moments of sloppiness, but in reality that was one of their least sloppy efforts they have had since the restart of the season.

They should be very proud of that effort IMO.

Shout out to Simmer on that fight with Smith. Loved that response. It is a moment like that in the game where you could see how fighting still serves a major purpose in hockey. If he doesn't respond the way he did, who knows what type of shit Carolina would have tried thereafter. The middle of the ice seemed to open up just a touch after that. They were clogging up the middle of the ice for the majority of that first period and had their D stepping up constantly, just like Smith did w/ the hit to Kase. We couldn't make a single pass in neutral ice before that fight. Sure they still played tight after that, but there definitely was a bit more space. Or at least that's how it felt to me.

They gotta do better than that imo. The bottom two lines got completely run out of the rink and the 2nd line wasn't all that much better.

Nice gutsy win but they gotta be better.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

They gotta do better than that imo. The bottom two lines got completely run out of the rink and the 2nd line wasn't all that much better.

Nice gutsy win but they gotta be better.

Our 4th line has been bad to terrible for the better part of 6 weeks now. Basically just crossing fingers something bad doesn't happen while they are on the ice lately and we survive to the next shift.

 

[zeke]

Our 4th line has been bad to terrible for the better part of 6 weeks now. Basically just crossing fingers something bad doesn't happen while they are on the ice lately and we survive to the next shift.

most worrying in this one was seeing our 3rd line get demolished. that can't happen, and might mean we should be targetting a good forward at the deadline.

 

[al secord]

Is it too early to extend Marner?

 

[Gallagbi]

They gotta do better than that imo. The bottom two lines got completely run out of the rink and the 2nd line wasn't all that much better.

Nice gutsy win but they gotta be better.

Makes me wonder if/where Spezza fits personally. Maybe he gets up to speed, but he looks extremely limited and Simmonds is basically a fighter at this point.

Would be nice to bump Kampf down to 4th C for playoffs

 

[TakeTheBody]

Even if the Leafs lost last night that was their best game of the season and the most fun to watch. Really well played. Both teams wanting to win for their goalies who played for the opponent the previous season. Let's just hope #34 is okay.

 

[Twine Tickler]

They gotta do better than that imo. The bottom two lines got completely run out of the rink and the 2nd line wasn't all that much better.

Nice gutsy win but they gotta be better.

I think the second and 3rd lines needed to be better.

JT is really struggling since the COVID break. He is noticeably more sluggish on both sides of the ice. That first goal against was completely on him trying to force a play up the middle and then losing the 1v1 battle once it was turned over.

He's never been a fast player, but he looks very tired to me. This stop and start shit with the schedule has very hard for our older players. Playing as frequent as we will be in February, JT will get his lungs back in short order. If we remember to last year, Willy and JT received a ton of criticism early on for their lack of 5v5 production, and then were arguably our best line in the second half of the year. I am hoping we see that once again.

As for line 3, it was a rare off night for that group. They got scored on to start the 3rd, which can't happen, and they seemed like they were chasing the game a bit. Extremely rare for that line. But then again, they were playing against a top team in the NHL.

To me, I see nothing but positives from this game. You are not going to dominate a team like Carolina. They are way too fast and hard on the puck. They lack true elite star power, but they make up for it 10 fold with the effort they put in. It's actually such an impressive brand of hockey. Perfect balance of skill and will IMO. They are playoff built IMO. More so than even COL, FLA and maybe even TB.

At best you hope to play a game like the one the boys played, and try and match our star power to theirs. That is a battle we should win 75-80% of the time. We got 4 goals from our big boys, and they got zippo. Unless you consider DeAngelo as a big gun. Mrazek made some good saves for sure, but he was also not very tidy at times with his rebound control which lead to the slight edge in shots for. I'd actually argue that Freddy made bigger saves in that game. He robbed Willy on the first PP, and Auston from point blank range on another PP. The Marner tying goal Freddy needs to find a way to put that puck in the corner, and that was the difference in winning and losing that game for them.

but overall, that was a prize fight between 2 elite teams. Both came to play IMO, and it could have gone either way. Fortunately for us, it went our way. I'll take a coin flip against the canes any day of the week.

 

[DraftSchmaft]

Even if the Leafs lost last night that was their best game of the season and the most fun to watch. Really well played. Both teams wanting to win for their goalies who played for the opponent the previous season. Let's just hope #34 is okay.

Really nice win and another strong 3rd period for the boys but that isn't even in top 20 for best game of the season. The people talking about lines that don't have Matthews and Marner on it are unfortunately not giving hot takes. They're fully correct.

 

[Carltons Cup]

They gotta do better than that imo. The bottom two lines got completely run out of the rink and the 2nd line wasn't all that much better.

Nice gutsy win but they gotta be better.

I don't often agree with you because of your love of fancy stats versus the good ole eye test.

In this case however, I absolutely agree with you. The bottom 2 lines looked slow as hell and got outplayed. And the 2nd line was on par (and that's being generous) with Carolina's 2nd line.

 

[Gary Nylund]

I only got to watch the end of the third and OT, but it was pretty good. Marner has been on another level for a while now and I hope he stays there. He needs this more than anyone tbh.

Disagree. I've been through decades of this team sucking before Marner was even born so I need it it more.

That was the Freddy we all knew and were happy he was shown the door. Carolina is a nice team, they’ll go no where with him.

I've seen so many posts like this, really hope they don't come back to haunt you guys.

 

[LeafChief]

I'd love a Matthews update but it's likely we hear nothing today.

Liljegren smashed his head on a players knee a few weeks back (he actually got a penalty on the play) and left the game in the 1st period. I believe he played the next game. Hopefully similar for Matthews.

 

[ACC1224]

Just read the last couple pages of the Canes GDT. Had no idea they were such a whiney bunch. Not sure why but I had always thought they were one of the better fanbases but they just come across as not really understanding the game very well.

 

[zeke]

Just read the last couple pages of the Canes GDT. Had no idea they were such a whiney bunch. Not sure why but I had always thought they were one of the better fanbases but they just come across as not really understanding the game very well.

Tbh they do seem to be getting screwed on calls this year. One of the best teams in the league and they have the 2nd worst penalty differential in the league. I'd be pissed off too.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Great game .. 2 completely different styles of play .. one team playing a skilled passing possession game .. one team playing a FAST forechecking and defensive game .. and pointed out here but Wayner tipped da balance in game back to Leafs .. Canes looked like they wanted to run over Leafs and Wayner made them back off their game .. no one likes a badly bruised jaw and a broken tooth .. but good on Smith for taking those shots .. they were some very heavy fisted bombs and he finished da game