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Post-Game Talk: Leafs Blowout Kings 6-2

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Smif said:
He can't even carry the puck right now, he's losing his hands now, not just his legs.
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To be fair he just came off an illness. It's not like he's barely a fourth liner. In the 7th year of a large contract and for the most part his numbers have been solid, and he does have 2 goals already this year. Nobody likes the "11" in his salary but he's a useful player still.
 
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Heavy thunder along the boards at SBA last night with a chance of a blowout.

Some great performances, some solid goaltending, some excellent positional play complete with sharp offence. It's the kind of game that makes you believe.

1st Star Mitch Marner. Uncanny vision, talcum powder soft hands, sees things way before they happen.

2nd Star William Nylander great wheels all night and a maximum effort, his playmaking looks like its fully blossomed, if his faceoffs get better, maybe he is a centre?

3rd Star Oliver Eckman-Larsson we've found our PP QB and he's looked real comfortable with Jake.

Honourable mentions

The 4th line, we actually have a real 4th line that does all that great 4th line stuff

Bobby McRocketman(thanks Bonsey)

The D as a whole, not perfect by any means but it was better than what we've been used too, that's for sure!

34 broke the egg, 11 again! another solid game, 91 just missed potting 2, 89 first back a couple of times isn't shy with the physicality

They started well and kept it going until that little let down in the third. On to the next.
 
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Its not your fault said:
Domi had the 2nd most even strength assists next to McDavid, lucky for us you put that on the internet for all to see. 😂
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weird stats do happen. Domi is a solid player so whatever I'm not trying to bash him. Point is that Nylander hasn't been suffering the past few seasons. And when Tavares gets dropped it will be because of age not chemistry. Tavares has always played the coziest of styles for his linemates including speedy ones like Nylander. As well as his old linemate Matthew Barzal who I would bet money has made similar comments to Nylander.
 
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Devilsfan2326 said:
How's OEL and his overall game this year? Quick enough to stay on the powerplay?
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OEL has looked very good thus far, at both ends of the ice.

He's already taken over point duties on PP1, and is showing good offensive instincts.

Having said that, the Leafs' PP always seems to end up back at the Big Four + Rielly sooner or later, so we still have to see what happens this year.
 
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WestCoastLeafs said:
OEL has looked very good thus far, at both ends of the ice.

He's already taken over point duties on PP1, and is showing good offensive instincts.

Having said that, the Leafs' PP always seems to end up back at the Big Four + Rielly sooner or later, so we still have to see what happens this year.
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The Leafs PP has been historically good with Rielly. Except for in the playoffs. Plus it's crazy to put the blame on him when he is playing with 4 11 million dollar players.

I am fine with OEL taking over, but until they crash the net a little more, his shot is going to be just a 50 foot unscreened save.
 
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Looking ahead, we could really use a guy like NHL player Derek Morris to round out the 4/5-ish slotting on D for depth. Or someone with Martin Skoula’s puck poise maybe to round it off.
 
rumman said:
What’s there to complain about? So imo critiquing the team’s poor play is trolling? Team played good for being riddled with the flu, there’s no criticism because there’s nothing to critique………..
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Sure there was, but people only like to point out the negatives after a loss.
 
Dough72 said:
weird stats do happen. Domi is a solid player so whatever I'm not trying to bash him. Point is that Nylander hasn't been suffering the past few seasons. And when Tavares gets dropped it will be because of age not chemistry. Tavares has always played the coziest of styles for his linemates including speedy ones like Nylander. As well as his old linemate Matthew Barzal who I would bet money has made similar comments to Nylander.
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You are assuming that Nylander hasn't "been suffering" with Tavares, and that Tavares will be dropped only because of age. If you've watched the games, you could have seen that they have both produced despite their different styles, and small sample size that it is, these last two games, and most of the odd times they were separated (over the last two years in particular) have shown that Nylander at least performs better away from Tavares.

It's not a knock on Tavares that their styles don't compliment each other, but there is certainly evidence that it is a fact.
 
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1specter said:
He did look pretty awful in the last playoffs and was noticeably overwhelmed, however he also appeared injured to me and his mobility definitely seemed hampered. Believe he was also on the ice and well out of position when Nick Cousins eliminated the Leafs in 2023
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He was also playing with Joel Edmundson, and one thing you can't say about Joel is that he's an effective puck mover. And Boston knew that.
 
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weems said:
Like you said it's only 4 games, so the sample is way too small to really make any conclusions but the directness and power we're playing with is far greater than before. Way less messing around with the puck in the neutral zone, way less curling back and holding possession at all costs. Just fast north-south, get pucks in deep, forecheck and wear the opposing teams defence down and get pucks to the net. I think this playstyle is far more sustainable to winning in the playoffs and it's one where if you can master, teams hate having to deal with this type of opponent.

We haven't played any of NYR, BOS, DAL, EDM, TB, CAR yet, so we will have to prove we can play this way against the leagues elite and consistently.
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yup, still lots to prove as a group. Way too early to be handing out the Jack Adams.

I will say though, what I find encouraging is how we've shown up in every game for the most part. A mid week game against a hungry LAK group with a former Leaf in the cage and a handful of GTA players in the lineup is such a fitting script for a let down game. Not to mention the fact we've got players battling illness. Going back even further to the Pens game, it was almost as if Dubas was intentionally trying to trolling us by putting a kid in net to play his first NHL game on our home opener which just so happened to also be a Saturday night HNIC game. It was almost as if he knew we were going to trip over ourselves. I wonder where he got that idea....

Point being, historically, we never really struggle to show up against those top tier teams. We tend to struggle in games exactly like the ones I listed above. Ones where we lack a desire to play with intention or a purpose. Even in our 1 loss this season, we were very much the better team.

Again, I am trying not to get too ahead of myself, even though I know I probably have already. But it is really hard to deny some of the positive things we are seeing from this group. Results aside

PromisedLand said:
BOSSMODE

https://x.com/i/web/status/1846927769633984946
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INJECT THIS INTO MY VEINS!!!
 
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This was a classic Leafs trap game. The Kings were fresh off a clown game where they gave up 8 to the Sens, it was a backup who briefly played for the Leafs in Rittich, in Toronto, after a couple of big wins. We lose this game 4-1 so regularly that you can set your watch to it. Was very nice seeing the boys blow 'em up instead. Things to learn from the game, but it was a big win and a relief as a fan.

McMann is a real player, he's got goalscoring IQ and plays physical. He and Knies are the pieces that might take this forward group from being a big4 to being truly elite.
 
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