Pre-Game Talk: Game #7 Leafs (2-3-1) vs. Canes (4-0-0), 7pm Mon

[Burnie97]

K ... go do it then.

 

[Burnie97]

Leafs powerplay...

New definition for insanity

Or at least the most used example

 

[Azail]

Man, I really wish Keefe wasn't as stubborn as I was told he was and he'd make a couple of changes like Switching Nylander and Marner.

I was told 2 days ago by someone on this board that he is terrified of the players and wouldn't change anything because he is so scared of them. Lol

 

[Zybalto]

What tough schedule?

Habs, Sens, Sens, Rags, Sharks and Pens

Which of those teams are tough? The Pens didn't even have 4 core players.

Leafs have had a soft schedule. They've failed to get points at an acceptable level as a team so far

Talking tough in the sense of how travel and rested/not rested played out for the team. Not taking advantage of beating the Sharks (who they outplayed) hurts though but needed Hutch to clutch and he failed.

I mean, pretty much that same Pens team beat up a rested Tampa pretty bad (in an absolute beat down if you watched it) too so I was expecting a loss (maybe not that big). I thought Toronto outplayed the other teams regardless. Just keep working hard and good things will come.

 

[DutchHockeyGuy]

I would not mind Gabriel getting a game soon. Obviously he is not that good a player, but I liked his positive attitude and energy in the pre season. Might just be what this team needs.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

We played good in game 1
Awful in game 2
Great in game 3 and 4
Awful in game 5 and 6
Pretty much equal

We weren't awful against San Jose. We played well. Hutch did not. It wasn't "great", but we played a good game and should have won.

PIT is the only awful game we played, and we were actually well in control before giving up those two quick goals to start the 2nd, and then we just gave up. That was the worst part about it.

We were 'meh' against Ottawa in Game 2. Awful last 10 minutes of the 1st and first 5 or so minutes of the 2nd (where they ultimately scored 2 goals), but we were the better team for the rest of the game. Didn't deserve to win, but losing 3-2 is still a close game.

At this point, a 4-2-0 record is probably where we should be, but they are at 2-3-1. It's never a good thing to gift games to teams, especially games where we should be winning most of the time, but now it is time to respond against a team that has yet to lose a game.

 

[Once]

 

[All Mod Cons]

Nylander with Matthews eh? We've been begging for two years for it to happen, and just like that the coach does it. Great forward thinking staff we have.

 

[TheGreatOne11]

Alright boy's, time to show the league what you're made of, against one of the top teams and our old goalie.

Campbell is going to be ON tonight, get a few goals, secure the victory.

Matthew's must break through against his best friend. Don't hold anything back Matty.

 

[Havoc]

Free to believe that but the feelings over facts thing rarely works out (which is probably why its a meme).

As much as it would be humorous to see a top 5 team for shooting% the last 5 years finish with the lowest in NHL history (along with Vegas who are even lower ATM), I just dont see it happening.

These 6 games are similar to the playoffs. The advanced stats suggest our record should be better and therefore better times ahead, but at the end of the day we already lost 4 times. We'd be eliminated if this was playoffs.

Same story in the actual playoffs. Advanced stats look good but we lost 4 times in 7 and got bounced so who cares.

Eye test easily shows change is needed. If you take the advanced stats at face value you can reason that Leafs don't have to do anything at all. Keep status quo.

You need raw stats when it matters. What good is predicting good times are coming when you have to win 4 games first no matter what?

To win a cup you need killer instinct, attrition and you need to be clutch. These are the only advanced stats that matter in the playoffs and Leafs lack all 3 so far.

 

[TheGreatOne11]

I like those lines for tonight, I really like them. I hope they break through and make this work tonight, get that old Tavares Marner chemistry and Nylander deserves that promotion, with bunting being a good net presence.

We could have our new top line here.

 

[AvroArrow]

View attachment 473946

This is hilarious love it

 

[Rogue Leader]

Bunting - Matthews - Nylander
Kerfoot - Tavares - Kase
Engavll - Spezza - Marner
Ritchie - Kampf - Simmonds

I did some tweaking of the lines on my own. How do those lines sound to you guys?

 

[Nineteen67]

What tough schedule?

Habs, Sens, Sens, Rags, Sharks and Pens

Which of those teams are tough? The Pens didn't even have 4 core players.

Leafs have had a soft schedule. They've failed to get points at an acceptable level as a team so far

Pens, Rangers and Leafs will likely be in a battle for a WC position.

 

[VanW27]

These 6 games are similar to the playoffs. The advanced stats suggest our record should be better and therefore better times ahead, but at the end of the day we already lost 4 times. We'd be eliminated if this was playoffs.

Same story in the actual playoffs. Advanced stats look good but we lost 4 times in 7 and got bounced so who cares.

Eye test easily shows change is needed. If you take the advanced stats at face value you can reason that Leafs don't have to do anything at all. Keep status quo.

You need raw stats when it matters. What good is predicting good times are coming when you have to win 4 games first no matter what?

To win a cup you need killer instinct, attrition and you need to be clutch. These are the only advanced stats that matter in the playoffs and Leafs lack all 3 so far.

Bad starts have killed our results while simultaneously propping up our advanced stats in both last years playoffs and the start of this year.

Sure it seems like we outplayed teams for the last 40-50 minutes, and therefor the game as a whole, but we got caved in for the first 10 and needed to fight to get back in the game. Score effects make the advanced stats look way better than the reality of the situation.

 

[Rogue Leader]

I like those lines for tonight, I really like them. I hope they break through and make this work tonight, get that old Tavares Marner chemistry and Nylander deserves that promotion, with bunting being a good net presence.

We could have our new top line here.

I just hope that Keefe doesn't reverse everything back after 5 minutes. We have seen that happen in the past, unfortunately.

 

[Zybalto]

These 6 games are similar to the playoffs. The advanced stats suggest our record should be better and therefore better times ahead, but at the end of the day we already lost 4 times. We'd be eliminated if this was playoffs.

Same story in the actual playoffs. Advanced stats look good but we lost 4 times in 7 and got bounced so who cares.

Eye test easily shows change is needed. If you take the advanced stats at face value you can reason that Leafs don't have to do anything at all. Keep status quo.

You need raw stats when it matters. What good is predicting good times are coming when you have to win 4 games first no matter what?

To win a cup you need killer instinct, attrition and you need to be clutch. These are the only advanced stats that matter in the playoffs and Leafs lack all 3 so far.

Its tough sell though when even the two times champs wouldnt be the champs if it wasnt for Vasy saving their butts on multiple occasions. Their big stars regularly failed to produce in tight games (scoring less than ours). Vasy was certainly a deserving MVP when he closed out Carolina/Isles/Habs with his team only scoring 4 goals to help him over 3 games (and the stars got shut out). Tampa forwards as bad a killer instinct in elimination games last playoff as we did (even compared to our start this year) and they are very lucky they had a keeper who did have that killer instinct. I was hoping Campbell would be our diamond in the rough on that front but he failed down the stretch in tight games like all our other keepers in the past.

 

[mikeyz]

I wonder if the Leafs players go easy on Andersen, not wanting to embarrass him. Clearly wasn't rated by the organization and being a former team mate, they may feel like they're in a no win situation and don't want to come across as bully's.

If this actually happens with undeniable proof provided, I would be done with the Leafs forever.

 

[Gary Nylund]

About time he split M & M, Nylander deserves a promotion

He was quite stubborn in ever splitting them pretty much like Babcock, but glad he’s come around

Agree, he should talk less and do more, let’s see

Not sure how Matthews could possibly talk any less than he is. He gets microphones shoved in his face all the time, he has to say something to the media every now and then. It's not like he's going out of his way to be quoted or anything, not sure what you expect from him.

We played good in game 1
Awful in game 2
Great in game 3 and 4
Awful in game 5 and 6
Pretty much equal

I don't agree, I think the post below is a more accurate summary.

We weren't awful against San Jose. We played well. Hutch did not. It wasn't "great", but we played a good game and should have won.

PIT is the only awful game we played, and we were actually well in control before giving up those two quick goals to start the 2nd, and then we just gave up. That was the worst part about it.

We were 'meh' against Ottawa in Game 2. Awful last 10 minutes of the 1st and first 5 or so minutes of the 2nd (where they ultimately scored 2 goals), but we were the better team for the rest of the game. Didn't deserve to win, but losing 3-2 is still a close game.

At this point, a 4-2-0 record is probably where we should be, but they are at 2-3-1. It's never a good thing to gift games to teams, especially games where we should be winning most of the time, but now it is time to respond against a team that has yet to lose a game.

Seems about right. Far away from the dominant team I was hoping to see to start the season for sure, but not as bad as some people seem to think either. An overall meh grade seems about right and I'm not going into panic mode because of one terrible game which capped off this meh start.

Should be a good one tonight. I expect fireworks from M&N and I also expect Marner to play his butt off. GLG!!

 

[Nineteen67]

Bunting - Matthews - Nylander
Kerfoot - Tavares - Kase
Engavll - Spezza - Marner
Ritchie - Kampf - Simmonds

I did some tweaking of the lines on my own. How do those lines sound to you guys?

What has Kampf done to deserve that?

I’d go
Nylander, Matthews, Marner

and tell the rest of the stiffs not to give up a goal.

 

[MattySnipes]

They'll probably win this one after the slapping they took at hands of Wilkes-Barre.

We'll all be excited again and expect them to win next two against weak teams, and they'll lose them both.

Chicago hasn't lead all year, they'll lead all game. Bertuzzi next game after will probably get a hattrick. Ahh the Leafyness.

 

[Chief Berube]

Bunting - Matthews - Nylander
Kerfoot - Tavares - Kase
Engavll - Spezza - Marner
Ritchie - Kampf - Simmonds

I did some tweaking of the lines on my own. How do those lines sound to you guys?

That's the next option if Marner doesn't step it up. Spezza has been a stud but an he keep up with Marner?

 

[bbgobie]

We weren't awful against San Jose. We played well. Hutch did not. It wasn't "great", but we played a good game and should have won.

PIT is the only awful game we played, and we were actually well in control before giving up those two quick goals to start the 2nd, and then we just gave up. That was the worst part about it.

We were 'meh' against Ottawa in Game 2. Awful last 10 minutes of the 1st and first 5 or so minutes of the 2nd (where they ultimately scored 2 goals), but we were the better team for the rest of the game. Didn't deserve to win, but losing 3-2 is still a close game.

At this point, a 4-2-0 record is probably where we should be, but they are at 2-3-1. It's never a good thing to gift games to teams, especially games where we should be winning most of the time, but now it is time to respond against a team that has yet to lose a game.

I'd disagree on the SJ game. They were on the road on the 2nd of a back to back. If the leafs had put in 100% effort from puck drop, SJ would've stopped playing 10 mins in.

 

[fahad203]

The Leafs have gone 6 straight games with 3 or less goals, this hasn't happened to Leafs offense since prior to the Salary Cap being instituted, prior t0 2004.

This is the Leafs worst offense output to start a season in almost 2 decades.

When Leafs big boys aren't scoring the Leafs will struggle with offense and not produce enough as secondary offense to win games unless they're giving up 3 or less goals themselves. The Leafs record is reflective of this struggle to score.

That 2004 team didn't have 3 of the highest paid players in the league

Leafs don't forcheck, they don't tire out opponents D they just do circles

Puck possession and cycle game are not the same

Keefe system is severely flawed. He really doesn't know how to utilize his players

Tavares production had been on decline under Keefe for that reason. He can cycle board game is his game, not holding on to it for the sake of holding on to it

 

[zeke]