Post-Game Talk: John Tavares is a Toronto Maple Leaf.

[Dekes For Days]

Reading through the pre-game thread is pretty funny. I wonder if Tavares is still a 3rd line center.

 

[NastyKnies]

And 3 whole seconds later...............

View attachment 602562

would you want this reaction ?

 

[egd27]

Sounds like a job well done to me. Bunting doing his job, Matthews not piling on.

One day he might do what you want him to do so you can feel like he's engaged or something.

He's fantastic player who is almost always engaged during play and has shown a lot more physicality lately. Full marks for that.

I don't care for the "stand back and smile" while my team mates fight my battles for me look. Just my opinion.

 

[Dekes For Days]

But Matthews will create more space for himself if he takes Konecny there.

"Taking Konecny" there would not "create space". People will play him exactly the same.

 

[egd27]

Matthews also leads the team in hits, and did during the playoffs too.

Clearly he shys away from scrums, but in game he is the most engaged leaf physically.

agreed, he has come a long way in that area of the game

 

[Nineteen67]

would you want this reaction ?

Yes.

 

[Stephen]

Matthews also leads the team in hits, and did during the playoffs too.

Clearly he shys away from scrums, but in game he is the most engaged leaf physically.

I would say his physicality is not a consistent feature in his game. There are shifts where it seems like he taps into a full power forward game and it’s speed, hits, nastiness and straight lines. And then there’s the finesse version where those elements fade out or disappear entirely.

Do we need him to be a Gary Roberts? On the balance, no. But usually when you play meaner and harder it just creates more room for you later as at least puts the doubt into challengers. I don’t think it’s wrong to ask for more when you feel like there’s more there.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

Reading through the pre-game thread is pretty funny. I wonder if Tavares is still a 3rd line center.

My favourite part about this morning is seeing Sens fans chirping Tavares of all people and telling them I am going to post a link to a list of all the players he is out producing - then linking to a page of their current roster.

 

[Oscar Peterson]

Too early to draw conclusions (especially against a team as poor as the Flyers) but that was just about the first time all year our fourth line actually looked good. ZAR-Kampf-Malgin, a couple weeks ago I posted that I hoped they'd give it a try, I think they should get a few more spins.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Players know.

That is one player who has an opinion. Where are the others.

 

[egd27]

would you want this reaction ?

would have preferred the cross check be lower so it was only a minor, but yea IMO that was an appropriate reaction

 

[Stephen]

"Taking Konecny" there would not "create space". People will play him exactly the same.

Didn’t you call Matthews the greatest power forward in hockey last week?

 

[The Podium]

I would say his physicality is not a consistent feature in his game. There are shifts where it seems like he taps into a full power forward game and it’s speed, hits, nastiness and straight lines. And then there’s the finesse version where those elements fade out or disappear entirely.

Do we need him to be a Gary Roberts? On the balance, no. But usually when you play meaner and harder it just creates more room for you later as at least puts the doubt into challengers. I don’t think it’s wrong to ask for more when you feel like there’s more there.

Took Ovechkin a long time to learn that lesson. Seems like the switch has been flipped though and Matthews has been physically engaged for the last 20-30 games of his career. We’re still in the infancy of physical Matthews so it won’t be as consistent as we want.

 

[NastyKnies]

would have preferred the cross check be lower so it was only a minor, but yea IMO that was an appropriate reaction

fair enough lol

 

[ULF_55]

Some thoughts on last nights' game

+Great game from Tavares. Well deserved praise from fans and the media.

+Matthews played well, but not at his best yet. Nice to see him more loose, and trying things to make offensive plays.

+Nice to see our bottom 6 showing a pulse. I like seeing Kampf on the 3rd line and Holmberg on the 4th. Or was it the other way around? Holmberg/Kampf 3/4 or 4/3. Something like that. I think Holmberg is here to stay.

+I enjoyed the scraps/chippy stuff at the end of the game. Quite a few Flyers were punching Gio in the mouth and in the back of the head. I'm glad he got to give Philly their medicine. I don't think Matthews did anything wrong in those scrums/slashes. He can't be breaking his hands from punching guys.

-Bunting is not a very good player. I posted before the season started that we should trade him while his stock was high. I don't know what he's doing anymore. An agitator? Ok. He's also a guy who gives the puck away more times than I care for. He is who he is, but at the end of the day he has to prove that he deserves to be there. You could put almost any forward with MM/AM and they will produce.

-Samsonov had some great saves, but that 2nd goal Philly score was as soft as they come. He can't let that go in.

-The Flyers are pretty garbage. I'm glad TOR won, but their warts are still there. They have to be a lot better from top to bottom.

-I'm not a big fan of Kerfoot, but I'm glad he's been taken off center.

-Malgin is not a very good player. For the sake of this club, the development of prospects, and good habits; Malgin needs to find his bus ticket to Peoria N.Y. (as a f***ing Marlie).

Agree with most of what you've written, not 100% in agreement with Malgin though.
Might be some Marlies deserving of consideration, but between Robertson and Malgin, not much difference except one can be demoted without concern. One is probably extremely close to peak and the other hopefully has another couple steps to go. Neither of them are top 6 forwards at this point.

Bunting hasn't looked good since being injured last year. At this point it might be accepting that he isn't a top 6 forward, and has to play to what got him there. Keep it simple and don't take bad penalties and don't give away the puck.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Didn’t you call Matthews the greatest power forward in hockey last week?

Longer than a week ago, but yes, he is. You don't need to risk stupid injuries in meaningless scrums to be a power forward.

What does that have to do with you incorrectly suggesting that him "taking Konecny" there would "create space"?

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

I would say his physicality is not a consistent feature in his game. There are shifts where it seems like he taps into a full power forward game and it’s speed, hits, nastiness and straight lines. And then there’s the finesse version where those elements fade out or disappear entirely.

Do we need him to be a Gary Roberts? On the balance, no. But usually when you play meaner and harder it just creates more room for you later as at least puts the doubt into challengers. I don’t think it’s wrong to ask for more when you feel like there’s more there.

Agree on the surface but bear in mind those players usually have both their careers and peaks cut short. It's a fine line.

 

[Stephen]

Agree with most of what you've written, not 100% in agreement with Malgin though.
Might be some Marlies deserving of consideration, but between Robertson and Malgin, not much difference except one can be demoted without concern. One is probably extremely close to peak and the other hopefully has another couple steps to go. Neither of them are top 6 forwards at this point.

Bunting hasn't looked good since being injured last year. At this point it might be accepting that he isn't a top 6 forward, and has to play to what got him there. Keep it simple and don't take bad penalties and don't give away the puck.

Re: Malgin, can’t help but think how much more effective he would be as an NHLer if he had a little more Ondrej Kase programming. Nothing crazy, but just a little more reckless, little more willing to get into the danger areas.

 

[Stephen]

Longer than a week ago, but yes, he is. You don't need to risk stupid injuries in meaningless scrums to be a power forward.

What does that have to do with you incorrectly suggesting that him "taking Konecny" there would "create space"?

So every limitation on a player is going to be couched on the fear of injuries going forward and we’re going to have a hierarchy of disposables who can engage in rough play and those who are too precious to? You see the downhill problem with that line of thinking, or no?

 

[ACC1224]

Matthews also leads the team in hits, and did during the playoffs too.

Clearly he shys away from scrums, but in game he is the most engaged leaf physically.

Yep, his game as evolved. Just needs to take it a little further.

 

[Nineteen67]

What did Tavares do last night that was different than any other game he’s played this year? Forget the goalie‘s poor positioning, that’s likely not going to happen often.

 

[Twine Tickler]

Good game, not great. This was the closest we've come to looking like the team from last season. Still a little sloppy throughout the ice. Seeing a lot of unsupported pinches by the D-men. I put this on the forwards. One in particular last night where I believe Gio jumped into the play (good read), Willy should have stayed high on the point to cover but decided to drift into the slot, Gio Misses the net and it gets sprung back for a 2 on 1. Just simple things like that we still need to clean up. I felt like we had about 4-5 of those mind gaps in neutral/offensive zone through the first 2 periods. Maybe more. You don't need high quality opponents to make you pay on mistakes like that.

Looked like we got our Mojo back in the 3rd there. Spearheaded by Johnny. I think the second he scored the 4th goal you could see the group started to play like their confident selves. Really hope this win can springboard us into playing the right way going forward.

Sammy looked great once again. He obviously would like to have that 2nd one back, but other then that he was excellent IMO.

You can tell Matthews is just about to pop off as well.

4th line was very noticeable in a good way. I oddly think Malgin is a very good addition to that 4th line. He adds that little element of skill to extend plays in the offensive zone, while not being overly deficient defensively either.

Keep the ball rolling Saturday. Big game against the hottest team in the NHL. I'd like to see our best effort yet

 

[wingman75]

People really need to stop using the phrase "cannot go in". Every shot on net has a chance of going in, it's just that the odds of going in range from .00001% to 99.99999% but even the weakest shot can go in once in a blue moon on even the best goalie in the league. His overall performance was very good, that's more than enough and there's zero reason to even think about one softie.

Agreed, his overall performance was what was required. I will expand my comment to 'that second goal cannot go in on a regular basis'. If it is a one-off in a game that we won, clearly no issue. Still a terrible goal that should not go in what would be emphasized if we did not win.

 

[Dekes For Days]

So every limitation on a player is going to be couched on the fear of injuries going forward and we’re going to have a hierarchy of disposables who can engage in rough play and those who are too precious to?

What are you even talking about? You claimed that Matthews "taking Konecny" would "create space". That's false. It wouldn't change anything.

On every team around the league, depth guys are going to handle the "rough stuff" more than the most valuable players to your team. That's just called being smart. There are moments where Matthews throwing down may be beneficial or necessary, but a scrum caused by a couple minor slashes that's already being dealt with at the end of a nothing 5-2 game at the beginning of November is certainly not the time to be risking injury.

He pushed back, grabbed him, and threw some cross checks, and then his teammates came to have his back. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[ToneDog]

Yep, his game as evolved. Just needs to take it a little further.

Has everything Sittler had and more but Sittler had an "edge" that Matty lacks. Sit would have had a slightly different reaction than Matty had last night. My favourite Leaf along with the big Swede.