Post-Game Talk: Hellebuyck and the Paper Jets beat leafs 4-3

[Judas Tavares]

What concerns me is that Rittich shut them out for almost 120 straight minutes. They lost twice to Demko and last night to Helley. I can hear the whining that they ran into a goalie that went into God mode and beat us while Andy shit the bed again.

I did the math in a different PGT, but essentially if you took the Vancouver in Toronto series + in Edmonton series, the team's shooting % was 17%. Take the Rittich games and add them to the Demko games and I think the shooting % was 3%.

It won't stay at either end of the spectrum and probably falls somewhere in the middle. We have to hope that middle is
a) Good enough to go deep
b) Can appear when we need it in a playoff series. Because obviously a series can be lost quickly if you are shooting at a low percentage. And it was evident with us vs. Columbus. But it cannot be the excuse two years in a row.

I'm willing to take the recent losses + the Rittich games and the Oilers series with a grain of salt at each end of the spectrum and hope the combination of strong play and the law of averages continues to keep the team overly successful. But it doesn't have as much time to regulate itself come playoffs.

 

[hotpaws]

It is less about those 4 goals individually. They weren't horrible. A couple had a bit of stink to them, but they weren't horrid. If this were a one off or a two off or a three off, fine. He would be off the hook.

This isn't about one goal. Or one game. It has become habitual. Which is a problem. So we can play Noodles McClennan analyst on each of the four goals and conclude in a vaccum that it wasn't a horrible night. But the trend has lasted too long and it is concerning.

Night in and night out, the other goalie is better. Or in the case of the Edmonton series, the other goalie is so bad, that the performance of our goalie can just be standard and that is more than enough to win by a fair margin.

so our goalies let in 1 goal in 3 games and there play is just standard ? i wonder what our goalies have to do before you think they had a good game . lol

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Seems like a major difference between when we play Boston as opposed to Tampa playing Boston.

Vasilevsky makes those insane saves against Boston's PP with their wicked cross seam passes whereas Freddy gets lit up like a christmas tree in those instances.

From what I have heard, everyone that shoots on Vasi says wow he reflexes are cat like for a big man ... when you are big and you are fast and you are athletic it is a very hard combo to match and those few guys get 10M per ... but he has a history of concentration breakdowns where he just loses it emotionally and goes out of control much like Rask

 

[AvroArrow]

It was a blind guess, I don't know how many it was. The point stands that it was a game decided by goaltending.

The game was mainly decided by phenomenal goaltending on the jets side. Freddy has been bad, but how many goals can you completely blame him on? 1, maybe 2 ? No more than that, even 2 is pushing it. I think Freddy played average, not great, but not terrible. Everyone was hot after the game and venting, so there's some crazy reactions in here. I don't think the game was just decided by goaltending, but more specifically decided by the Jets goaltending.

Something we've never had, I'm not sure the last time I recall this group winning a game just off of goaltending.

 

[Bluelines]

The Leafs have the 4th best shooting% in the NHL and create the 3rd most scoring chances, 3rd most high danger chances have the 3rd highest xG for/60 and the 2nd highest goals scored/60 in the NHL.

Complaining about their finishing is akin to Jets fans complaining about Helle not stopping pucks. Stop doing it.

How are those stats over the last 3 games?

 

[Wafflewhipper]

Lazy brain or shaken cofidence?

He watched his team in front of him outplay the shit out of the opposing team knowing full well he's the one who made the difference the negative way. You put that adversity on Freddy and he's not the type who rises up, he crumbles.

I never believed that. Unfortunately he forced my hand and i do now I’m more important than him too. He’s got millions and I don’t have a cup.

 

[ToneDog]

In your heart you know Freddy did not give up a softie last night ... and you know he can certainly add 1 of those in playoffs ... what scares me most is Peg in round 1 and we kill them like last night and Freddy gives up those 4 but we fight back to tie it up and then he lets in 1 softie late under pressure and we lose 5-4 ... that would be dagger of team and then Shanny/Dubie and Keefer all get fired next day ... Keefer has to be da bigger man and dress Soupy to start playoffs and then go with him to go as far as we can

Still half a season to go and lots of time to figure out who starts the playoffs but if Soupy is to be the man, he needs to given a shot at proving it. That will also allow Freddy to be fully rested for the playoffs. Win-win.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

The fourth goal was worse than soft. It was. Gross. He could see the guy coming down the wing, so he should have thought being a goalie and all, well maybe i should move to my right and take the post. Nahhhh he said I’ll wait until the last minute and f*** this right up diving at the wrong post. That was a catastrophe of reading the play. He has lazy brain man

He is not lazy ... he benches and squats more than anyone on team (him and Matty are close) ... he drives a golf ball like 325-350 yards regularly although he can't putt to save his life ... he is a HUGE strong man but his is not athletic ... when he sees a guy coming in on him at speed he gets scared because he does not have ability to match reflexes at pace ... he has to guess and he guessed badly on that one clearly

 

[Bluelines]

The fourth goal was worse than soft. It was. Gross. He could see the guy coming down the wing, so he should have thought being a goalie and all, well maybe i should move to my right and take the post. Nahhhh he said I’ll wait until the last minute and f*** this right up diving at the wrong post. That was a catastrophe of reading the play. He has lazy brain man

I was surprised he didn't try to poke check, I get the guy was coming right to left, using his body to protect the puck but when people cut across the crease my instinct is poke check, lost art form.

 

[SeaOfBlue]

I think that's debatable. There are plenty of teams that have had goaltending issues as much or more than the Leafs. Just look at the Oilers. The Flames have had issues (until stealing Markstrom away). Price has been extremely up and down. Vancouver's goaltending has been up and down. That's just in the Canadian division. I think he's in the middle tier league wide, but he has been trending downwards.

Vancouver and Edmonton have terrible defense. We don't.

Andersen at ES has been okay. He creates some issues for himself with rebound control and positioning, leading to more chances against, extended zone time against, and some weak goals, but he is good enough with the saves he should be making even though teams typically try throwing anything (even if it is crap) against us.

His HDSV% is a little bit more concerning. Goals like #4 yesterday are a lot more common for him than in the past, and he is not making the big saves that you need from a successful goalie. That being said, he is still not the worst guy out there.

Where he is really putting a nail in his coffin is on the PK. He is arguably the worst starter in the league on the PK right now, and that is costing us games... And will cost us games in the playoffs. Yet the media continuously blames our forwards and defensemen who are putting up top 5 defensive metrics in the league on the PK, and we see Hutch and Campbell barely give up anything on the PK, but meanwhile Andersen is barely keeping his head above water (and the common saying is that you goalie needs to be your best PKer) and is generally not even mentioned.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

He is not lazy ... he benches and squats more than anyone on team (him and Matty are close) ... he drives a golf ball like 325-350 yards regularly although he can't putt to save his life ... he is a HUGE strong man but his is not athletic ... when he sees a guy coming in on him at speed he gets scared because he does not have ability to match reflexes at pace ... he has to guess and he guessed badly on that one clearly

He can putt,putt,putt right out of town.

 

[Wafflewhipper]

I was surprised he didn't try to poke check, I get the guy was coming right to left, using his body to protect the puck but when people cut across the crease my instinct is poke check, lost art form.

Haha i know, i lost my mind. It was just so wrong in every way. What else can a fan get from that disaster of a attempt. It was weaker than a attempt, i take that word back

 

[Wafflewhipper]

I was surprised he didn't try to poke check, I get the guy was coming right to left, using his body to protect the puck but when people cut across the crease my instinct is poke check, lost art form.

I though also, did he just not move to avoid contact. My head-was dancing P!ssed then too but he froze

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Haha i know, i lost my mind. It was just so wrong in every way. What else can a fan get from that disaster of a attempt. It was weaker than a attempt, i take that word back

I know it looked terrible man but gods truth he just does not have da god given ability to make that play at speed man he has to guess ... and he guessed wrong

 

[Kiwi]

As much as I think Anderson isint a playoff goalie he was only maybe weak on the last goal. First 3 were not his fault.

You mean he only botched the game winning goal?

The Jets goalie was able to stop more chances and he faced a much higher XG

He's also sporting a 903% on the season

He not good old son

 

[Wafflewhipper]

I know it looked terrible man but gods truth he just does not have da god given ability to make that play at speed man he has to guess ... and he guessed wrong

I seen enough of it. I really have been hardcore having his back. Now he is in decline. That was a easy positioning save for a nhl goalie. Take the post,take the angle, then push off and follow hoping forbthe best. How many fundamentals did he follow. Zip,none ha, he dove at the wrong post. I was instantly baffled.
I’m fine now,i just can’t stand him

 

[Bluelines]

I though also, did he just not move to avoid contact. My head-was dancing P!ssed then too but he froze

LOL I thought, did my TV freeze? Andy just scare crowed the entire play ... PYLON!

 

[Wafflewhipper]

LOL I thought, did my TV freeze? Andy just scare crowed the entire play ... PYLON!

Just take his mask off man and you see pylon

 

[Bluelines]

I seen enough of it. I really have been hardcore having his back. Now he is in decline. That was a easy positioning save for a nhl goalie. Take the post,take the angle, then push off and follow hoping forbthe best. How many fundamentals did he follow. Zip,none ha, he dove at the wrong post. I was instantly baffled.
I’m fine now,i just can’t stand him

I'm in the same camp, I've had his back for the longest time, this season, I can't stand watching him play... In the past he was "Big Save" Freddy, now he is "Please Save" Freddy.

 

[Bluelines]

Just take his mask off man and you see pylon

lol.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

I seen enough of it. I really have been hardcore having his back. Now he is in decline. That was a easy positioning save for a nhl goalie. Take the post,take the angle, then push off and follow hoping forbthe best. How many fundamentals did he follow. Zip,none ha, he dove at the wrong post. I was instantly baffled.
I’m fine now,i just can’t stand him

You got this idea somewhere where he is a fast athletic goalie who can track guys and follow them at speed .. he can't ... he is a big goaler who relies on great positioning and butterfly to cover lower net and size for as much as top as he can cover ... but move him around at speed and everyone knows he is an easy peasy beat ... here's a little nugget ... he can only poke check when he sees attacker is looking down at puck ... it attacker has his head up at speed he has to guess

 

[Bluelines]

You mean he only botched the game winning goal?

The Jets goalie was able to stop more chances and he faced a much higher XG

He's also sporting a 903% on the season

He not good old son

Yeppers

 

[Wafflewhipper]

I'm in the same camp, I've had his back for the longest time, this season, I can't stand watching him play... In the past he was "Big Save" Freddy, now he is "Please Save" Freddy.

Big wave Freddy and i surftainly had enough ha

 

[Clark4Ever]

The game was mainly decided by phenomenal goaltending on the jets side. Freddy has been bad, but how many goals can you completely blame him on? 1, maybe 2 ? No more than that, even 2 is pushing it. I think Freddy played average, not great, but not terrible. Everyone was hot after the game and venting, so there's some crazy reactions in here. I don't think the game was just decided by goaltending, but more specifically decided by the Jets goaltending.

Something we've never had, I'm not sure the last time I recall this group winning a game just off of goaltending.

This is the issue. Freddy doesn't seem capable of shutting the door when it matters most. Maybe the goals he let in last night weren't stinkers, but to be an elite team, you need your goalie to step up and make the big saves when it matters.

I think we've seen enough to know that he just doesn't have that in him.

Of the top 4 teams that eventually make the playoffs in our division, Freddy will be the 4th best goaltender, and that automatically puts us behind the eight ball regardless of how much our team has improved this season.

 

[AvroArrow]

This is the issue. Freddy doesn't seem capable of shutting the door when it matters most. Maybe the goals he let in last night weren't stinkers, but to be an elite team, you need your goalie to step up and make the big saves when it matters.

I think we've seen enough to know that he just doesn't have that in him.

Of the top 4 teams that eventually make the playoffs in our division, Freddy will be the 4th best goaltender, and that automatically puts us behind the eight ball regardless of how much our team has improved this season.

Exactly, there's been stretches where he's been good, stretches where he's been awful but overall he's not the goalie you can win a cup with. There's no consistencies with him, you never know which Freddy you're going to get. And just overall, his average level of play is not very good. Taking a look at past cup winners, all have had very good starting goaltenders.

Vasilevsky, Binnington, Holtby, Murray, Crawford, Quick, Thomas, Niemmi, Fleury, Osgood, Ward. All those guys were playing GREAT hockey, if we want to be in the conversation with legitimate contenders, it is an area that needs to be addressed asap. We have the best defensive structure we've ever had, the best team since as long as I can remember, and yet his play and numbers are both very underwhelming.