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Enough is enough, why can't the Leafs hold leads??

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francis246 said:
oh my God, give it a break. This is a goalie and defense problem. Campbell has come back to earth. He has given up 21 goals I think in the last few games? The forwards have also scored a ton of goals. The issue isn’t the forwards, the issue is the team cannot play defense, our defensemen get overwhelmed against a heavy forecheck. All the teams in the west play heavy. Our forwards have given Campbell more than enough run support.
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Seems to be we are saying the exact same thing? Not sure what in my statement you're arguing against?
 
LastOne2100 said:
This has been a problem with this team for a while.

When they get the lead, our forwards stop putting in as much effort offensively. This is perfectly normal for teams.

However, what it also does is put a lot more pressure on our defensive system as we aren't attacking anymore, aren't as hungry for possession, etc.

And that exposes our weakness - our defensive system sucks, and our defensive roster falls off hard beyond our top pair.

As a result, as soon as we stop trying to score, we are awful. Getting early leads takes us right out of the game immediately as we stop playing to our strengths. This is what happens when you create an unbalanced roster like we have.
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This is true.
Also, I don’t know about anyone else but I’m getting so sick and tired of hearing these players say that they need to learn from these games. How many years does it take to realize that you can’t take your foot off the gas, and just maybe you aren’t as good or talented as you think you are? This team must lead the league in blowing leads in games and losing, especially in the playoffs!
If this team doesn’t do some damage in the playoffs this year, significant changes must be made!
 
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Is no one even going to mention Sheldon Keefe?

Along with TOR's stars, Keefe has just as much to prove in the post season. As much as anything April cannot be another trial run.
 
acrobaticgoalie said:


Campbell has been below the Standard that we are used to from him but where was the defensive coverage last night? Reaves was all by himself right in the slot with 4 leafs in the corner on that first goal. Fox and Kreider were allowed to just walk right to the net with no coverage. There was not a Leaf in sight on either the Reaves or Kreider goals in front of the net.
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The defensive coverage was definitely far from great. I think Keefe made that clear. At the same time, I still think he knows Campbell still should not have given up 5 goals that game. Obviously, you can't criticize him given what he has done this season, and I don't think Keefe is ever going to say "he should have made more big saves for us", but I think he was thinking it on a few of those...
 
They make too many risky plays when they're up. They should be watching film of the 2012-2014 LA Kings. Absolutely shut the game down after going up by a goal, damn near perfect defence with no bullshit risky plays. Leafs make low percentage plays and still look to score at the expense of defensive gaps. Once you have a 2 goal lead, the game should be completely shut down. You still wanna play in the opposing zone, but no risky plays at the blue line and use the damn boards.

Need more focus on team success and team D, rather than individual scoring. Play to win, not to look good on the stat sheet. Also our D needs stability. Muzzin is so injury prone and Holl is garbage. We need a more reliable top 6 on D.
 
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AvroArrow said:
They make too many risky plays when they're up. They should be watching film of the 2012-2014 LA Kings. Absolutely shut the game down after going up by a goal, damn near perfect defence with no bullshit risky plays. Leafs make low percentage plays and still look to score at the expense of defensive gaps. Once you have a 2 goal lead, the game should be completely shut down. You still wanna play in the opposing zone, but no risky plays at the blue line and use the damn boards.

Need more focus on team success and team D, rather than individual scoring. Play to win, not to look good on the stat sheet. Also our D needs stability. Muzzin is so injury prone and Holl is garbage. We need a more reliable top 6 on D.
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Damn that LA team was good and I agree with your thoughts there.

The regression of Muzzin/Holl leaves one obvious weak spot on the team which is our D. The biggest weakness however might be the overall psychological makeup of our team. We play well during the season, play OK to well in the playoffs until the finish line is in sight and then we just collapse. This has happened 4 years in a row so is that "just one of those things", or it that our team just lacks "the right stuff"?

That to me is the biggest question. Hopefully it doesn't happen again but if we fail again in embarrassing fashion, then it's time to trade Marner IMO and when we're picking our new team members, put less emphasis on fancy stats and more on character. JMHO.
 
Gary Nylund said:
Damn that LA team was good and I agree with your thoughts there.

The regression of Muzzin/Holl leaves one obvious weak spot on the team which is our D. The biggest weakness however might be the overall psychological makeup of our team. We play well during the season, play OK to well in the playoffs until the finish line is in sight and then we just collapse. This has happened 4 years in a row so is that "just one of those things", or it that our team just lacks "the right stuff"?

That to me is the biggest question. Hopefully it doesn't happen again but if we fail again in embarrassing fashion, then it's time to trade Marner IMO and when we're picking our new team members, put less emphasis on fancy stats and more on character. JMHO.
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That's a huge concern for me as well. We have some tough guys, but the overall roster is not that mentally tough. Simmonds has the edge, Muzzin but that's pretty much it. It can't just be one or two guys, we need to be more difficult to play against, teams know they can physically impose their will on us. We saw some of that last night as well. If we fail again we may have to move Marner to round out the roster. Not debating which player is better, but if we had one of the Tkachuks (as much as I hate them) we'd be a significantly more difficult team to play against.

The skill and talent is there, but like you mentioned the psychological aspect is in question. I'd like to see more veteran leaders, more size and grit added to the line up. 2nd D pairing needs major work, Muzzin and Holl both look very bad right now and Muzzin is constantly injured.

I said it a few times now but guys like Manson and Josh Anderson would be perfect fits here. Size/strength/grit. Probably won't land either of them but that's what we're missing. We need at least 1 big body LW and Top 4 D man. Ideally two, top 4 D men.
 
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It's like the English soccer team and penalty shootouts. It's in their heads collectively even if it's an entirely different group of players.

And it's no wonder. That game 7 vs Boston was the most legendary and pathetic game 7 collapse spanning all nhl history. At 4-1, Burke had left his box and was shaking hands with executives celebrating the win. Something that outrageously dramatic can't occur without long lasting consequences. Not a single player from that team is still a leaf... yet it's still in our players heads.

We're the team that blows leads. So when they're up, that's what all the players are thinking. Both teams. The opposing team knows they always have a shot, no matter the score, because it's the leafs. And leaf players play nervous.

I don't know what anybody can do about it.
 
Too many needless turnovers in the d-zone. I don't know how many times i watched the little cutesy bump passes or angle deflections designed to assist the breakout and transition to offense end up on the opponents stick with all our forwards already committed to the rush. It, as well as other elements have to stop or blowing leads will continue.
 
Goaltending is regressing (as expected), crappy bounces (Strome GWG), unplayable 4th line, Tavares line struggling, and a few missed assignments by the D (gotta stop vacating the front of the net)

-Goaltending should be fine
-Kase punts Clifford out of the lineup, so 4th line could be good again with Engvall back there (like to see Anderson for Simmonds sometimes)
-Tavares line should be fine, although I'd rather see Nylander carry his own line
-Growing pains with the D. We'll see if we make any moves, but I'm still confident in Sandin and Lily. Maybe not so much in Dermott.
 
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No brains, no heart, they're much too shy. Dubas is no wizard either. We need to start at the top to fix this...not have Dubas keep tinkering.
 
Jojalu said:
Overreaction from a bizarre 5 game stretch of an 82 game season.

When they were 19-0 after holding a 2 period lead, where was everyone?

And why doea the regular season matter now? I thought all that mattered was the playoffs?
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yes this

it's recency bias and the media hype. We've been a bit flat recently. I think we will work ourselves out of it, but I readily admit to not knowing everything and have no crystal ball - unlike all the critics, haters and Jim Matheson's on hfboards
 
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