GDT: Florida @ Toronto - April 1st 7 PM- Sportsnet "Fool me once, strike one. Fool me twice, strike three."

[ULF_55]

They all seem pretty much the same to me.

Hockey Crowd < Basketball Crowd

I don't attend, just play an audience member on my own chair.

Funnily enough, I watched the last game on mute and it was a little more enjoyable.

 

[mikeyz]

Just remember.

Leafs win. Well let's see them do it in the playoffs.

Leafs lose. It will be exactly 100% indicative of what will happen in the playoffs.

Sorry I had to.

I hate contradictions, but, in this case I will make an exception. They haven’t proven anything in the playoffs, and until they do, this will be the mindset with the consensus of Leafs fans.

 

[Fogelhund]

I think we will see the Leafs be more physical than Florida tonight, for whatever that is worth (and I think it's debatable at this stage of the season). I think the Leafs will sweep both Florida games this week to make things interesting in the standings, but then probably fall short by the end of the season and finish in third.

So the opposite happens then?

 

[Evilhomer]

Panthers will be hungry.

They've been a .500 team for a month.

Isn't this a somewhat contradictory statement? I wonder if the issue is that they are burning out Bob.

 

[22Brad Park]

Hope you guys can handle those dirty bastids.Not often I pull for you guys, but I will vs them.

 

[ULF_55]

Isn't this a somewhat contradictory statement? I wonder if the issue is that they are burning out Bob.

Just means he'll rebound like last year and have another historical run, and then flame out at the end.

 

[OVO16]

Panthers look like they want to start a brawl. They're dressing both Gadjovich and Lomberg who have both been healthy scratches the last few games

Wouldve liked to have Edmundson this game

 

[Suntouchable13]

Panthers look like they want to start a brawl. They're dressing both Gadjovich and Lomberg who have both been healthy scratches the last few games

Wouldve liked to have Edmundson this game

Man, Paul Maurice is a piece of work.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Panthers look like they want to start a brawl. They're dressing both Gadjovich and Lomberg who have both been healthy scratches the last few games

Wouldve liked to have Edmundson this game

Both have been out sick, and have been chomping at the bit.

We have had a flu going through the room. Tonights lineup gives Cousins, Lorentz, and Okposo the night off up front.

We are fully healthy with Ekblad now back for a couple games.

Should be a barn burner either way. Cheers!

 

[1specter]

Panthers look like they want to start a brawl. They're dressing both Gadjovich and Lomberg who have both been healthy scratches the last few games

Wouldve liked to have Edmundson this game

They can feel free to fight Reavo then. I'm sure they will accept, right?

 

[OVO16]

They can feel free to fight Reavo then. I'm sure they will accept, right?

Gadjovich probably will.

Everyone else on the team are pansies. Lomberg will run straight to Nylander probably. Bennett will try to fight Robertson

 

[Zybalto]

Numbers for the projected lines so far this season:

Bertuzzi/Matthews/Domi:
xGF%: 66.27
GF%: 53.92

McMann/Tavares/Nylander:
xGF%: 58.83
GF%: 74.87

Knies/Holmberg/Robertson:
xGF%: 52.31
GF%: 65.66

Dewar/Kampf/Reeves:
xGF%: 58.22
GF%: 100.00

Limited minutes for this setup but pretty good results so far.

 

[kevsh]

Panthers look like they want to start a brawl. They're dressing both Gadjovich and Lomberg who have both been healthy scratches the last few games

Wouldve liked to have Edmundson this game

That's a good sign if Maurice feels he has to dress a tougher lineup tonight.

I've always been of the frame of mind of letting the other coach spend his time figuring out the best lineup, then I (if I was a coach that is) just send out my usual group. Same goes with line matching, for the most part. Send the message that you're comfortable sending anyone of your lines against any of theirs.

Sometimes it can backfire but if nothing else it shows deep confidence in your entire lineup, something I wish Sheldon would show more of with this roster.

 

[1specter]

Numbers for the projected lines so far this season:

Bertuzzi/Matthews/Domi:
xGF%: 66.27
GF%: 53.92

McMann/Tavares/Nylander:
xGF%: 58.83
GF%: 74.87

Knies/Holmberg/Robertson:
xGF%: 52.31
GF%: 65.66

Dewar/Kampf/Reeves:
xGF%: 58.22
GF%: 100.00

Limited minutes for this setup but pretty good results so far.

I'd be very interested to see how this would work with Marner in Nylander's spot and then Willy on line 3. You'd have three very balanced lines with a major threat on each one.

 

[NinjaKick]

"**** em in the ***"

-Jesus

 

[AvroArrow]

Gadjovich probably will.

Everyone else on the team are pansies. Lomberg will run straight to Nylander probably. Bennett will try to fight Robertson

I just want someone to "hit" Bennett the same way he "cleanly hit" our guys last year

 

[Chaos2k7]

That's a good sign if Maurice feels he has to dress a tougher lineup tonight.

I've always been of the frame of mind of letting the other coach spend his time figuring out the best lineup, then I (if I was a coach that is) just send out my usual group. Same goes with line matching, for the most part. Send the message that you're comfortable sending anyone of your lines against any of theirs.

Sometimes it can backfire but if nothing else it shows deep confidence in your entire lineup, something I wish Sheldon would show more of with this roster.

Lomberg Stenlund and Gadjovich ARE the regular 4th unit. They are just healthy enough to start again.

Since they went down we gave Okposo and Lorentz some run, but this is the normal squad, lol.

In the last 30 days we had Barkov, Tkachuk, Forsling, Ekblad, and many bottom sixers out. With the exception of maybe Cousins this should be our lineup in the playoffs.

 

[PROUD PAPA]

Just like the first game in Boston.
Let’s see if McCabe pulls everybody into the fight again.


Maybe he doesn’t want to see Knies get angry.
Maybe he won’t like him if he gets angry.

I fully expect we'll find out one day. He's a big solid boy and is getting more comfortable with the physical/intimidation level of pro hockey. One of these days somebody might regret lighting his fuse.

 

[arso40]

I'd be very interested to see how this would work with Marner in Nylander's spot and then Willy on line 3. You'd have three very balanced lines with a major threat on each one.

i still would keep bobby with willy and knies with marner

 

[Evilhomer]

I wonder if it's coincidence that every team Tarasenko joins subsequently slumps.

 

[AvroArrow]

Panthers GDT is sad, some really stupid posts in there. Got a guy celebrating Bennett cross checking Bunting in the head last playoffs and when he grabbed Knies by the neck and hit his head on the ice. They're also wondering why people think they are the dirtiest team in the league.

 

[Zybalto]

I'd be very interested to see how this would work with Marner in Nylander's spot and then Willy on line 3. You'd have three very balanced lines with a major threat on each one.

The rise of McMann (and the chemistry he has with Tavares) may make a Marner return work (Marner/Tavares have been pretty bad for a while now otherwise) but my only issue with that is that the most glaring stat when it comes to Matthews in the playoffs is:

Playoffs from 2020-2023:

5v5 Matthews/Marner lines:
TOI: 404:21
Goals scored: 18
Goals against: 10

Matthews without Marner lines:
TOI: 133:37
Goals scored: 0
Goals against: 4

The fact Matthews, one of the greatest 5v5 goal scorers in history, hasnt scored a 5v5 goal without Marner on his line since the 2018-2019 playoffs in a pretty big sample size scares really scares me into keeping them together. One can even make the argument that had they been glued to each other, the team would have had far more playoff success.

Another glaring issue is that Willy has been abysmal 5v5 away from Matthews/Tavares this season:

Nylander when not playing with Matthews or Tavares this season:
Ozone faceoff% 62.75
Shot differential: 46.78
High danger chance differential: 31.86
xGF%: 33.51
Goal differential: 43.90

He's had flashes (most notably with Bert/Domi for a bit) but has otherwise suffered bad from the lack of a quality center that can handle even middling QoC. I actually wonder what would happen if we were to slot him in the C role and give him Jarnkrok and another guy who has a strong 2 way element to his game though, maybe Knies? Gotta get Jarnkrok back first though and no time to get him settled. Can also just rerun the Bart/Domi/Nylander line as they already have familiarity and throw Knies/Jarnkrok up top while trying Marner on the 2nd.

Lots of options. Just gotta get healthy.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Panthers GDT is sad, some really stupid posts in there. Got a guy celebrating Bennett cross checking Bunting in the head last playoffs and when he grabbed Knies by the neck and hit his head on the ice. They're also wondering why people think they are the dirtiest team in the league.

We don't wonder, its just hilariously overblown.

Games are decided on the ice not on the message boards, people get a little too worked up.

Previous matchups have no bearing on what's to come. Strap in and enjoy the ride.

 

[Zybalto]

McMann/Tavares playing together on a line:

TOI: 165:30
xGF%: 58.33
Goals for/60: 4.37
Goals Against/60: 1.44

McMann without Tavares on a line:

TOI: 342.10
xGF%: 46.22
Goals for/60: 2.63
Goals Against/60: 2.26

I'd keep these two stapled together.

 

[AvroArrow]

We don't wonder, its just hilariously overblown.

Games are decided on the ice not on the message boards, people get a little too worked up.

It's really not, your organization employs arguably the dirtiest player in the league. A guy who routinely targets players heads and necks and throws punches at the other player before his opponent gets both gloves off and pretends to be tough lol