Series Talk: ECSF: (A1)Toronto Maple Leafs vs (A3)Florida Panthers - (Series tied 3-3) Part 2

[Kranix]

Bennett accidentally concusses his 25th opponent, accidentally. Just have to feel bad for the guy. Such an innocent, young honorable man. Being slandered by the Toronto media and fans, he's actually the victim here.

Pray for Bennett.

I'm just talking about this nothing-play, in which stolarz unfortunately was injured, and Bennett met no discipline. I don't think anyone feels bad for him, despite him taking a lot of heat in your echo chamber.

 

[3B]

If you think Bennett glove hitting Stolarz at 2 MPH is what concussed him, there just no helping you.

Domi's hit was was the dirtiest by far in the series.

But I am not complaining.

Its hard playoff hockey, its something us championship teams in Florida understand and Leafs fans don't.
When half of the Canadians leave their dumpy cities in the winter to come south they should spend some time with us and and we can teach you about winning hockey.

It's our sport now.

Interesting comments about who's teaching who the game. All the players on your team of any consequence developed their games in Russia, Europe or Canada before becoming NHL players even Tkachuk & Jones. So yeah there's that.

 

[NotNotALeafsFan]

This was Toronto’s series. Florida (their core + Bob) played like garbage the first two games. Toronto took their foot off the pedal and allowed Florida to regain control. Now Toronto’s core looks like garbage in games 3 & 4. We’ll see what both teams bring to games 5, 6 and potentially 7.

If both teams bring their A games, should be an exciting few games.

Unfortunately, this series hasn’t seen both teams have good games in the same game and has resulted in what we’ve seen so far.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

This was Toronto’s series. Florida (their core + Bob) played like garbage the first two games. Toronto took their foot off the pedal and allowed Florida to regain control. Now Toronto’s core looks like garbage in games 3 & 4. We’ll see what both teams bring to games 5, 6 and potentially 7.

If both teams bring their A games, should be an exciting few games.

Unfortunately, this series hasn’t seen both teams have good games in the same game and has resulted in what we’ve seen so far.

I disagree. It’s been a great series with every game being capable of going either way. Even last game where the Cats flat out dominated could have gone Toronto’s way with Woll’s heroics keeping it close up until the end.
I also don’t think Toronto took their foot off the peddle. Florida just ratcheted up their game to another level. The Leafs need to do the same now.

 

[The Professional]

Just a dumb cheapshot, taking a run at the other team's captain, from behind, near the boards, in the dying seconds of an out of reach game. Not even remotely a hockey play. In the old days there would be hell to pay for that gutless bullshit. The benches might have emptied. In today's NHL, you get a pocket change fine and life goes on, truely ridiculous. All the whining from leaf fans about the dirty play of Florida is really hypocritical considering they're all fine with this garbage. Hopefully Gadjovich gets a hold of Domi next game.

 

[ToDavid]

I like how you completely ignore two headshots by Toronto yesterday…

Which ones?

Are we counting Rodrigues getting hit square in the chest and rolling around on the ground for five minutes?

 

[Gentle Man]

Which ones?

Are we counting Rodrigues getting hit square in the chest and rolling around on the ground for five minutes?

Who cares where he got hit


Where was the puck?

 

[Suntouchable13]

Who cares where he got hit


Where was the puck?

Yea, but you're saying that was a headshot? It was a simple interference infraction, that's all.

 

[A1LeafNation]

Tkachuk threatening the Leafs just put a bullseye on the Panthers back from the league.

He severely crippled their team here imo.

This is a boone for the Leafs. Lets hope they don't choke this opp now.

 

[CowbellConray]

Just a dumb cheapshot, taking a run at the other team's captain, from behind, near the boards, in the dying seconds of an out of reach game. Not even remotely a hockey play. In the old days there would be hell to pay for that gutless bullshit. The benches might have emptied. In today's NHL, you get a pocket change fine and life goes on, truely ridiculous. All the whining from leaf fans about the dirty play of Florida is really hypocritical considering they're all fine with this garbage. Hopefully Gadjovich gets a hold of Domi next game.

I really think this year is the summation of the leagues efforts to remove "tough guys" and "fighting" from the league.

The instigator rule stopped large scale retaliation to these exact types of plays. Teams removed tough guys from their lineups who would know to sacrifice themselves via suspension or fight if a player went after their captain like Domi did to Barkov last night. Now you see scummy plays, Tkachuk on Guentzel and Marner, Mikkola's board, Domi's board, Hagel on Barkov, Bennett on Stolarz, Stone sliding into people's knees, Roy's crosscheck. This has been one of the dirtiest playoffs I can remember. I can only assume that's due to the lack of concern of any sort of punishment from the league or the other team.

The league has stopped suspending guys for dirty play. IDK why, but their tiny 5K fines are absolutely not influencing anything for a player who makes 4-5M a year. And now that tough guys are gone, these scummy middleweights are just running around giving cheapshots at the end of every game.

The league created this. If this is 10 years ago when 4th lines were bigger, and the code really mattered, Domi would 100% get his head knocked in to start game 5. Bennett would have already fought or been boarded by a 4th liner for the Leafs. Instead, these guys face zero pushback, and just do dumb shit over and over again.

Ridiculous what Bettman has created. Remove the instigator and start handing out 3-5 game suspensions in the playoffs for unnecessary plays like what Domi did

 

[Gizmoskevich]

Yea, but you're saying that was a headshot? It was a simple interference infraction, that's all.

I would more say a blind-sided illegal check in which Rodrigues would leave the game. But I'm not going to get upset for no fine/suspension, a 2 min penalty is enough.

 

[pcruz]

Folks,

Stop posting tweets that are political. It will be removed.

Thank you!

Are you talking about the tweet from one of the owners of the Florida Panthers directed at the Toronto Maple Leafs?

I do wonder how that could possibly be related to a series between the Panthers and Leafs.

 

[Dessloch]

Did you miss the all the games or something

1) Bennett headshots Stolarz and concusses him, no penalty no suspension (Florida fans claiming a puck to the helmet like an hour before is what concussed him LOL)

2) Ekblad elbows Woll in the head, no penalty no suspension

3) Kulikov hits Holmberg in the head, no penalty no suspension

4) Kulikov elbows Marner in the head, no penalty no suspension

THEN

5) Domi boards Barkov at the end of the game, penalty called and fined by the league


This started in game 2 by Florida, not even upset with the Leafs or Domi's response tbh. If the league isn't going to protect the players and enforce the rules, at some point you have to do it yourself.

Yes sir, my mother has told me to not watch the games as Toronto has never won a cup with me watching, so I have not watched for that reason! Do you think I should disregard her request?

If you want, you can add links to the 4 incidents above and I will gladly observe them!

 

[Two4Fighting]

Did you miss the all the games or something

1) Bennett headshots Stolarz and concusses him, no penalty no suspension (Florida fans claiming a puck to the helmet like an hour before is what concussed him LOL)

2) Ekblad elbows Woll in the head, no penalty no suspension

3) Kulikov hits Holmberg in the head, no penalty no suspension

4) Kulikov elbows Marner in the head, no penalty no suspension

THEN

5) Domi boards Barkov at the end of the game, penalty called and fined by the league


This started in game 2 by Florida, not even upset with the Leafs or Domi's response tbh. If the league isn't going to protect the players and enforce the rules, at some point you have to do it yourself.

I do not understand why a fan goes and make a list of hits to justify an argument that is not there,

There were many uncalled hits on both sides, it is a very physical series, they are both doing it, it is a simple as that.

I rather talk about the gameplay, we can talk about how Florida dominated for 60 minutes and how Toronto got shoutout, we also can talk about how the momentum is on Florida side, these are obvious conversations to have,

Fans here need to watch the other series, there is nothing different happening in the other series that hasn't happened here, it is just playoff hockey, and conspiracies just feel like High School stuff, just too childish for my taste.

 

[McJC]

Domi hit was fine, just happened at the end of the game which optically doesn't look good

 

[mikeo1]

The cognitive dissonance from the Panthers fans here is astounding.

Kulikov leaves his feet to elbow Marner in the head and Tkachuk tries to murder him after the horn miles away from the play in Game 1 and its all " suck it up butter cup, that's playoff hockey." Well, OK but then don't whine about your player getting boarded in a battle for the puck.

The league has made it clear that it's going to let dirty plays go this series. This is the way Florida plays. Of course there was going to be a response from the Leafs.

 

[Community]

Just a dumb cheapshot, taking a run at the other team's captain, from behind, near the boards, in the dying seconds of an out of reach game. Not even remotely a hockey play. In the old days there would be hell to pay for that gutless bullshit. The benches might have emptied. In today's NHL, you get a pocket change fine and life goes on, truely ridiculous. All the whining from leaf fans about the dirty play of Florida is really hypocritical considering they're all fine with this garbage. Hopefully Gadjovich gets a hold of Domi next game.

As a Leafs fan,

I think all of the following deserved some level of discipline (fine or suspension):

- Rodrigues high hit on Tavares (1 game)
- Kulikov elbow on Marner (fine or 1 game)
- Domi on Barkov (1 game)
- Tkachuk knee attempt on Marner post-game 1 (fine)

The Stolarz incident is most upsetting because it's a routine play by the Panthers which should be addressed league wide by sterner penalty calls for crashing the net and making contact with the goalie. If you're not pushed into the goalie and the goalie doesn't run into you, contact in the blue paint should pretty much always be a penalty (incidental or not). By itself, I dont a suspension is warranted but I understand why it caused an uproar (mix of no penalty, Bennett injuring Leaf players in back to back series, and the overall targeting of our goalies).

 

[Diglett]

How to advoid discipline from the league:

Be a nepo hire on a sunbelt team who's daddy works in the NHL head office.

 

[Leonardo87]

Are you talking about the tweet from one of the owners of the Florida Panthers directed at the Toronto Maple Leafs?

I do wonder how that could possibly be related to a series between the Panthers and Leafs.

Yes, it's against the forum rules of "no politics".

 

[Gil Gunderson]

This was Toronto’s series. Florida (their core + Bob) played like garbage the first two games. Toronto took their foot off the pedal and allowed Florida to regain control. Now Toronto’s core looks like garbage in games 3 & 4. We’ll see what both teams bring to games 5, 6 and potentially 7.

If both teams bring their A games, should be an exciting few games.

Unfortunately, this series hasn’t seen both teams have good games in the same game and has resulted in what we’ve seen so far.

Ehn I don’t know. I think Florida has been the “better team” since the end of the first period in Game 1.

I think all the shot blocking and hit-taking might be starting to take its toll on the Leafs. I’m pretty sure Tanev has taken more than twice as many hits in the playoff as the next player on that list.

 

[Just Rude]

Stolarz was rocked before Bennett bumped into him, be mad at the Leafs for leaving him in the game after Rhino’s shot rocked him.

Rocked? From a wrist shot, what, 30 or 40 feet out?

I played goal all of my life and I can tell you, with today's equipment, there is no way Stolarz is knocked out of the series from a wrist shot, even one that knocks his head off.

NHL goalie masks are designed to take shots 60-ish MPH and above, and well over 100 MPH. You think a wrist shot from that far out is going to concuss an NHL goalie for over a week? Really? Which, of course, is why concussion spotters left him in the game, right?

Oh, and Bennett "bumped into him"? You've apparently never taken a elbow/forearm to the head from a 200-pound guy moving forward when you are still. Storlarz literally grabs his head immediately. Bennett's shot knocked him out.

Panther fans are the best. "The wrist shot did it, not that guy who has knocked three guys out of the playoffs from dirty shots in each of the past three years."

But, hey, don't take my word from it. Let a concussion doctor explain:

 

[Ratsreign]

Tkachuk threatening the Leafs just put a bullseye on the Panthers back from the league.

He severely crippled their team here imo.

This is a boone for the Leafs. Lets hope they don't choke this opp now.

Mental games from Tkachuk trying to get in Nylander’s head, nothing more.
Settle down, they all talk shit to each other.

 

[AcerComputer]

I like the Domi hit, he toes the line, no suspension. This is how the champs play, so we got to match their play including laying out some dirty hits at the end of the game when you've lost.

 

[Summer Rose]

I really think this year is the summation of the leagues efforts to remove "tough guys" and "fighting" from the league.

The instigator rule stopped large scale retaliation to these exact types of plays. Teams removed tough guys from their lineups who would know to sacrifice themselves via suspension or fight if a player went after their captain like Domi did to Barkov last night. Now you see scummy plays, Tkachuk on Guentzel and Marner, Mikkola's board, Domi's board, Hagel on Barkov, Bennett on Stolarz, Stone sliding into people's knees, Roy's crosscheck. This has been one of the dirtiest playoffs I can remember. I can only assume that's due to the lack of concern of any sort of punishment from the league or the other team.

The league has stopped suspending guys for dirty play. IDK why, but their tiny 5K fines are absolutely not influencing anything for a player who makes 4-5M a year. And now that tough guys are gone, these scummy middleweights are just running around giving cheapshots at the end of every game.

The league created this. If this is 10 years ago when 4th lines were bigger, and the code really mattered, Domi would 100% get his head knocked in to start game 5. Bennett would have already fought or been boarded by a 4th liner for the Leafs. Instead, these guys face zero pushback, and just do dumb shit over and over again.

Ridiculous what Bettman has created. Remove the instigator and start handing out 3-5 game suspensions in the playoffs for unnecessary plays like what Domi did

I had a thought about the whole paltry fines thing, which I hadn't thought of before. While it's basically just a slap on the wrist, I kind of feel that maybe the purpose it serves is to put something down on the player's record as "supplemental discipline" even if it's almost entirely ineffective on its own. That way, if the same player pulls another stupid stunt later on (within the 18-month window where an incident of supplemental discipline classifies them as a repeat offender), DOPS can smack them harder because they now have "repeat offender" status. I don't really have an opinion one way or the other on whether this is good, effective, what they're actually trying to do, etc. but it's a thought.

 

[Kranix]

Tkachuk threatening the Leafs just put a bullseye on the Panthers back from the league.

He severely crippled their team here imo.

This is a boone for the Leafs. Lets hope they don't choke this opp now.

Not with Colly Campbell conspiracy in full force