ECQF: Boston Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs (Series Tied 3-3)

[Divine]

One of those goalies are the litteral Vezina winner this season, kind of unanimously viewed as the best in the world.


Colorado and Edmontons stars came to play. Leaf’s have not. It’s that simple.

I’ll reiterate once again. If you need a goalie to have a BETTER than 1.4gaa to be leading this series, you do not have a goalie problem.

Hellebyuck sucked in the playoffs so far this season and last season.

 

[CDJ]

Samsonov has sucked. He’s let in a few bad goals. Boston had nothing Game 3 until Samsonov lets in a bantam hockey goal in a game the Leafs lose by 1 - but you can’t blame Samsonov?

The Leafs have 7 goals in 4 games, I get that it’s easy to blame the mediocre goalie but you’re not gonna win a series scoring under 2 goals a game. Samsonov needed to be prime Roy for you guys to have had a shot in 3 of the games played so far.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Hellebyuck has a horrible save percentage in the playoffs every year.

For the third time.

Whatever goalie you have in nets would have needed a BETTER than 1.4gaa for you to be in the lead.

Name me a goalie in NHL history who had a done this.

If only the Lwafs could add prime Hasek for free! That’s all they’re missing on their pursuit of the Cup!

 

[Divine]

For the third time.

Whatever goalie you have in nets would have needed a BETTER than 1.4gaa for you to be in the lead.

Name me a goalie in NHL history who had a done this.

If only the Lwafs could add prime Hasek for free! That’s all they’re missing on their pursuit of the Cup!

Who said they need the lead? The series should be 2-2 with average goaltending.

Did you see his five hole on JVR’s goal? JVR could have slid under it into the net.

 

[CapSpace]

Well, come on. Let’s be fair here. These leafs are f***ing terrible

But they are miles better than the Habs and the sens

Let’s not get ridiculous

Habs went to the finale in 2021 : the Leafs didn't.

And yeah, it was Covid Cup. Covid Cup for everyone, including the Leafs, and yet they shit the bed.

Matthews is a generational talent for sure, but the rest ? This team is a joke. I'll take the Habs, now and for the future, before Tavares-Nylander-Marner for 32M$.

 

[Over the volcano]

One of those goalies are the litteral Vezina winner this season, kind of unanimously viewed as the best in the world.


Colorado and Edmontons stars came to play. Leaf’s have not. It’s that simple.

I’ll reiterate once again. If you need a goalie to have a BETTER than 1.4gaa to be leading this series, you do not have a goalie problem.

He's not the only problem for sure but he's definitely on the list of problems.

 

[Fatass]

That’s not true though. I’m not seeing lack of effort. I’m seeing lack of execution.

Also scoring goals is a 5-man job

Effort is a lot more than scoring. It’s about making the sacrifices needed to compete on and off the puck.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

Leafs have two or fewer goals in 10 of 11 of their last playoff games.
That’s not a goaltending or D problem. That’s on the core 4 stars who are or are close to the highest paid players in the league.
I mean you don’t even need to compare them to Edmonton or Colorado.
They’re probably the worst performing core in the entire nhl.

 

[94 Oil Drops]

1 for 14 on the PP. Committing moronic penalties. Allowing what was a subpar PP to go 6 for 13 against your PK. Stars disappearing (literally and figuratively). Coach crapping his pants. That is not Samsonov's fault. He has played well enough to put Toronto in the position to win games.

Ouch! And I thought the King's powerplay stunk.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Who said they need the lead? The series should be 2-2 with average goaltending.

Did you see his five hole on JVR’s goal? JVR could have slid under it into the net.

Which games would they have needed just “average” goaltending?

They’ve scored, 1,3, 2, 1.

The “average” is not less than 2 big guy, it’s not 1998 anymore.

You know what they could really use? Average scoring. Average scoring would really help them.

 

[BLNY]

Leafs have asked the league for approval to change their logo for 24-25.

 

[N o o d l e s]

Y’all have to stop this maple leaf square stuff. Shit’s embarrassing

 

[Divine]

Which games would they have needed just “average” goaltending?

They’ve scored, 1,3, 2, 1.

The “average” is not less than 2 big guy, it’s not 1998 anymore.

You know what they could really use? Average scoring. Average scoring would really help them.

Game 2 and 3.

Yeah, Nylander’s been back for 1 game and Matthews hasn’t practiced or took any skates since Game 2 and missed the entire third period because the doctor pulled him out of the game.

Hopefully the 2 days off can help them and then we need Woll in net because even if they score 4 Samsonov will allow 5. The first shot after the Leafs tied Game 3 goes in. Boston can score at will on Samsonov.

 

[TMLegend]

I've never seen a team that is in such desperate need of leadership and a winning persona, never once go out and get that. There are very few teams that win the Cup on just their own players alone, most winning teams gather winning experience by picking the bones of past cup winners. This franchise in this era? Marleau, Thornton, Spezza... etc etc haven't won. Is Tampa's run over? Start there, start picking those bones, Pittsburgh is signing their skeletons long term so that's no help.

These guys don't know how to win in the NHL Playoffs, start going after St 'Louis, Tampa, Washington. See what you can get from Colorado and Vegas. It's mind boggling how this Leafs franchise picks the bones of the losing Cup teams.

It's the wrong type of bones I tell ya!!!!

I mean they've done this. They picked up Jake Muzzin, they brought in RoR and Schenn last year. Edmundson was brought in at this deadline. At what point do you just concede that it might not be in their DNA to be a winner?

 

[Il Stugotz]

Effort is a lot more than scoring. It’s about making the sacrifices needed to compete on and off the puck.

Matthews and Tavares are competing hard. Not sure what you’re watching here.

Nylander only played one game and is apparently dealing with migraines.

Marner has looked awful.

Domi has been an unmitigated disaster and should be scratched.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Game 2 and 3.

Yeah, Nylander’s been back for 1 game and Matthews hasn’t practiced or took any skates since Game 2 and missed the entire third period because the doctor pulled him out of the game.

Hopefully the 2 days off can help them and then we need Woll in net because even if they score 4 Samsonov will allow 5. The first shot after the Leafs tied Game 3 goes in. Boston can score at will on Samsonov.

Where in game 3 are they being awarded extra goals because they have a better goalie? Because unless to you 1 goal against is average, you aren’t winning that game with 2goals scored.

 

[Divine]

Where in game 3 are they being awarded extra goals because they have a better goalie? Because unless to you 1 goal against is average, you aren’t winning that game with 2goals scored.

They don’t need extra goals. Samsonov needs to save the freebie first and third goal he allowed.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

Who said they need the lead? The series should be 2-2 with average goaltending.

Did you see his five hole on JVR’s goal? JVR could have slid under it into the net.

Would it, though? That's entirely conjecture at this point.

The Leaf's PP is abysmal, the top players have combined for essentially nothing. The defense is doing an adequate job, if you don't count Brodie and Reilly. Lybushkin is their best D-man this series and it's not even close. The best forward was maybe Dewar as he was the only one with any consistent GAF through the first three games... so Keefe scratched him for G4 like a moron.

Samsonov hasn't been amazing, but he's not in the top 5 of their issues.

Also shows the kool-aid chugging going on here when a career mid-level goaltender making 3 million is taking more heat than:

- Mathews with one goal (albeit a great goal) and some hits that are making some fans act like he's some physically dominant beast; most those hits are routine game in/game out hits
- Marner with one goal, who has spent most of the series ducking serious physical play, turning pucks over, and complaining to the officials that "ITS NOT FAIR".
- Tavares that at least has shown some life, is still useless in most scenarios. He's so predictable that I know exactly what he's gonna do on a 5v5 or a PP break in. He's also slower than death
- Reilly has essentially been a non-factor.
- Brodie is as useful as tits on a plank.

Add to that a clueless coach, a limp PP, and a system that is neutered as soon as the playoff logo is painted under the ice and sewed onto the jersey, I think Samsonov is perfectly serviceable.

I'm not going to say anything about Nylander as he apparently has some health issues and at least looked hungry in game 4. And save me your whinging about Nylander and his toughness; if he had something like a migraine or cluster headaches, I don't blame him for sitting out a few games.

 

[Just Rude]

I hate to hear fans boo their own team. Good way to completely blow their confidence.

That ship sailed long ago. Essentially a must-win game against the team that has been your daddy, on home ice, on Saturday night, and that’s the effort?

Damn right the fans should be booing. It’s about time.

Let’s see what they do Tuesday. Tuck their tails or let their balls drop.

 

[serp]

They don’t need extra goals. Samsonov needs to save the freebie first and third goal he allowed.

I would expect one of the best offenses in the league to be able to score 3 or more goals in every game. Samsonov is not good but with a supposed high powered offenses like the Leafs it should be possible to win every game where your goalie gives up 3 or less goals no matter if some of those goals are bad.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

If this was a one off it would be one thing. Maybe you could talk about injuries.
But it’s been the same story every year now. The Core 4 are who they are. Nothing is going to change.
They should have moved one of them at least a couple of years ago. At this point probably the only option is to ask Marner to waive and get a poor return in exchange for cap space.
Firing the coach, replacing the goalie, shuffling the non core players has already been tried and nothing changes.

 

[PuckG]

I’m just here to hear how every other division sucks and that the Leafs, have again, got the short end of the stick.

Or did that already happen earlier?

 

[Based Anime Fan]

I would expect one of the best offenses in the league to be able to score 3 or more goals in every game. Samsonov is not good but with a supposed high powered offenses like the Leafs it should be possible to win every game where your goalie gives up 3 or less goals no matter if some of those goals are bad.

Wasn't the expression all year 'Outscore our problems' or something?

 

[Divine]

I would expect one of the best offenses in the league to be able to score 3 or more goals in every game. Samsonov is not good but with a supposed high powered offenses like the Leafs it should be possible to win every game where your goalie gives up 3 or less goals no matter if some of those goals are bad.

The Leafs had Nylander for 1 game and then lost Matthews that same game.

The core 4 have yet to play a full game together this series. Obviously that compounds the issues.

The Leafs were the road team and underdog going into the series - and that was assuming they were healthy.

 

[Just Rude]

And leafs fans were chanting “we want Florida” and lost in 5.

Give that Florida team a little respect

People need to give this up. It was a group of drunk kids in Maple Leaf Square after the Tampa series.