Pre-Game Talk: Bolts @ Leafs | Monday, Nov. 6th at 7 pm EST

[Evilhomer]

I’m expecting another loss.

Have you seen how bad Tampa is on the road?

 

[Metroid]

Run em up, fill em in!

 

[Larcos_Unal]

Have you seen how bad Tampa is on the road?

You think that makes any difference vs the Leafs?

 

[ACC1224]

Should be a good one. Hard to see them losing this one.

 

[Evilhomer]

You think that makes any difference vs the Leafs?

I get a kick out of the massive overreactions from fans. Same record at this time last season, yet apparently the ceiling is caving in this time around. Meanwhile, they have a 6 week run coming up against mostly mediocre teams, including the next 6 in a row at home against almost exclusively softies. Marner will come out of this stretch back in the top 10 in league scoring, and Knies and Bertuzzi will likely be point per game players now that they seem to have finally been put on the right lines.

 

[ACC1224]

I get a kick out of the massive overreactions from fans. Same record at this time last season, yet apparently the ceiling is caving in this time around. Meanwhile, they have a 6 week run coming up against mostly mediocre teams, including the next 6 in a row at home against almost exclusively softies. Marner will come out of this stretch back in the top 10 in league scoring, and Knies and Bertuzzi will likely be point per game players now that they seem to have finally been put on the right lines.

The bolded seems a little optimistic.
Agree with the rest though, not seeing a big difference this year to the prior years.

 

[Notsince67]

I get a kick out of the massive overreactions from fans. Same record at this time last season, yet apparently the ceiling is caving in this time around. Meanwhile, they have a 6 week run coming up against mostly mediocre teams, including the next 6 in a row at home against almost exclusively softies. Marner will come out of this stretch back in the top 10 in league scoring, and Knies and Bertuzzi will likely be point per game players now that they seem to have finally been put on the right lines.

There has been some positives with Bert. His defense has not been terrible at all. Good actually.
Unfortunately we have guys like Kampf and Jarnkrok playing way worse defensively than they have in the past.
To me, get those guys fixed, get Reeves to do the one job he was given and hire a shrink for Brodie (not sure what's up with him) and the team will win a lot more games.

 

[1specter]

Have you seen how bad Tampa is on the road?

Have you seen how bad we are at home?

 

[Evilhomer]

The bolded seems a little optimistic.
Agree with the rest though, not seeing a big difference this year to the prior years.

I meant point per game players through this next 6 week stretch as opposed to the entire season. I agree that the latter would be overly optimistic, especially since I wouldn't expect Keefe to have the patience to leave Knies on the first line for the rest of the season.

Have you seen how bad we are at home?

Yeah, 27-8-6 last season, 3rd best in the entire league.

 

[1specter]

I meant point per game players through this next 6 week stretch as opposed to the entire season. I agree that the latter would be overly optimistic, especially since I wouldn't expect Keefe to have the patience to leave Knies on the first line for the rest of the season.


Yeah, 27-8-6 last season, 3rd best in the entire league.

This season genius. We were also trash in the playoffs

 

[bax]

Excited to see Knies on the top line for a shift!

 

[ACC1224]

I meant point per game players through this next 6 week stretch as opposed to the entire season. I agree that the latter would be overly optimistic, especially since I wouldn't expect Keefe to have the patience to leave Knies on the first line for the rest of the season.

Agree there. Seems like a great fit, just have the patience to leave it alone for an extended time.

 

[horner]

Time to wake the F up. Divisional race is getting tighter

4 Point Games - Atlantic Divisional rivals

Nov 2 Vs Boston lost in OT - 1 points
Nov 4 Vs Sabres lost in regulation - 0 points
Nov 6 Vs Tampa (4 point game) - HOME
Nov 8 Vs Ottawa (4 point game) - HOME
Nov 10 Vs Flames - HOME
Nov 11 Vs Canucks - HOME
BREAK
Nov 17 Vs Red Wings (4 point game) - AWAY

Practice Lines Nov 5


Can Leafs wake the F up and beat divisional rival in regulation to gain 4 point advantage? And get things going?

I would put
Domi Kampf and Bertuzzi
I think Bertuzzi needs to be the man on that line
Jamcrock on the 2nd line

 

[CabanaBoy5]

Now that we have a little cap room, why are we not bringing up a forward who is playing really well with the Marlies, like Robertson or Steeves, and playing them on the third line with Domi at centre? Sit Reaves down because he contributing less than nothing to this team. More importantly, give Knies the time on the first line that you've been giving Reaves on the fourth.

 

[Evilhomer]

This season genius. We were also trash in the playoffs

You're right, years of dominance on home ice should be subordinated to the last 5 games.

 

[LeafalCrusader]

You're right, years of dominance on home ice should be subordinated to the last 5 games.

So Tampa with their 3 trips to the finals is going to mop the floor with us then lol. Can't discount their years of dominance lol.

 

[LeafParade]

Holmberg sent down and Robertson called up.

I assume Domi will center Jarnkrok and Robertson.

 

[Evilhomer]

So Tampa with their 3 trips to the finals is going to mop the floor with us then lol. Can't discount their years of dominance lol.

Maybe. More than likely this is just a lot of people being negative for the sake of being negative.

 

[tmlfan98]

I don't like the idea of a Robertson-Domi-Jarnkrok line. Trev should have just sent down Lajoie or Benoit instead of Holmberg, who hasn't played like he deserves to get sent down at all.

 

[1specter]

You're right, years of dominance on home ice should be subordinated to the last 5 games.

Your logic should go both ways.

 

[Evilhomer]

Your logic should go both ways.

I'm not saying it can't. Taken in that way, of course, you can also look at the head to head record against Tampa over the last couple of years. Toronto seems to have their number. If you want to play the odds, Toronto winning in overtime seems like the way to go.

 

[ACC1224]

Back to Samsonov tonight?

 

[HockeyVirus]

My feeling is this will be a rock bottom kind of game... Big 4 offensive switch flip won't work, everything will break down, Tampa special team is going to pile it on... it's going to force the team to come together and figure things out with urgency or if they stay in the current lane Keefe will probably not be here early December (feels like November 2019 when Babcock lost the room).

Holy hyperbole no it doesn't. Go rewatch that Penguins game before he was fired for a refresher

 

[Al14]

Have you seen how bad Tampa is on the road?

Bad teams often look like Stanley Cup champions when playing our Leafs in Toronto.

Too many NHL players have some sort of connection to Toronto and have many family and friends in the stands. They go out on our ice and put on a show by playing at higher level than their pay grades.

Also, many of the opposing players grew up either hating or loving our Leafs. Either way, they want to beat our Leafs out of pride for being haters or lovers. It's like they say to themselves "I'm not a Leaf and I want to show everyone that I'm glad or sad."

Our Leafs just can't seem to cope and counter this phenomena often enough. Our Leafs HAVE to play harder, and not just rely on their skill to overcome and earn a win.

The very same thing is happening with the Refs. They either hate the Leafs and they take that hate out on them, or they love the Leafs and want to prove they are not biased in their favor. As a result, we get more penalties against that are often let go when committed by the opposing team. This is why it took till March of last year til our Leafs were finally privileged with it's very first 5 on 3 power play for the season.

Also, dirty/hard nosed opposing players get away with a lot more nonsense than do any players wearing a Leaf jersey.

Let's not forget that this is also a result of Bettman wanting to grow the NHL south of the border in the U.S.A. IMHO, American based teams are given beneficial refereeing. For every 1 Leaf fan they piss off, there are 100 more that will continue to support our Leafs by buying tickets and merchandise, not only in Toronto, but in every NHL city.

After watching our Leafs for nearly 60 years I have witnessed the above happen over and over and over again. I'm 100% sure that if a Leaf did what Marchand did, a penalty and suspension would have gladly been handed out to our Leaf player.

Marchand is a Boston Bruin, so he is protected by Jacobs as well. Marchand only gets suspensions when Jacobs approves. Kadri is living proof of how suspensions are easily handed out to our Leafs. That Matthews suspension was also proof. Other cross-checking to the head/neck were ignored with no suspensions being handed out. Matthews was made an example of just because he was a Leaf.

MLSE and our Leafs make money hand over fist. There are struggling NHL teams that losing one fan would be really bad. The NHL is well aware of this and we see what we see as a result.

JMHO.

 

[Squiffy]

Hopefully McCabe in. Game time decision it sounds like.