Kovy looks lost out there IMO. He needs to find some chemistry with someone on this team. Maybe try Elias with him and Lokti?
Another thing that bothered me.
Stefan Matteau is a natural center, Andrei Loktionov is a natural left wing.
So then, why was MATTEAU playing left wing and LOKTIONOV playing center, ON THE SAME LINE?
I know the whole "forward position means something/nothing" argument has been beaten to death on these boards but I have no idea why you have two guys playing in foreign positions when they can just as easily play in their natural positions on the same line with zero negative consequences.
Especially young players. It's one thing to ask a veteran like Elias or Zubrus to play any position at a moments notice, much different to as a 19 year old rookie and a guy that's been a part of your team for three weeks.
There are a lot of guys on this team that aren't winning the small battles consistently enough.
There are so many people to point fingers at in this regard but Gionta, Ponikarovsky, Zajac, and to a lesser extent Henrique simply aren't effective enough right now...
Gionta to me is a major issue. He is still buzzing around, but he is not winning the battles like he did last year and his play has neutered that line that has been so effective in the past. Zajac is a similar situation but with him the problem becomes magnified because any line he is on is expected produce significant offense.
I'm not sure what is going on but so many players look a step or two off. These players look distracted to me, I have no reason to say that but that's what it looks like to me.
Don't worry guys...every team that loses to the Leafs go on a winning streak.
We beat MTL 6-0, they have now gotten a point in 10 straight games.
We beat OTT 3-0, they have a record of 5-1-1 since then.
We beat Buffalo 2-1, they are now 3-1 after winning like 2 games in 10 games.
"Oh crap we lost to Toronto? What the **** are we doing? Lets go"